More than Friends
by cookielover435
Summary: After the Tournament of Power, Jiren strives to become stronger in order to defeat Son Goku. Cocotte has the same goal to become stronger to avoid making the same mistakes she made at the Tournament. When the two decide to train together, their relationship changes in ways they don't expect. But how will it change?
1. Chapter 1: A Strong Resolve

Disclaimer: I don't own Dragon Ball Super or any of the characters. Everything belongs to Toei and Akira Toriyama except for the plot.

Author's note: This chapter has a series of flashbacks from the Tournament of Power. It is going to be a Jiren x Cocotte fanfiction. For some reason I've been shipping this pairing and I didn't find any fics about them on the internet so I decided to write one. Enjoy this chapter.

Flashback

_It was the end of the Tournament of Power. Universe 11's strongest fighter Jiren the Gray had been knocked out with the help of Goku, Freiza and Android 17. Goku, Jiren and Frieza now appeared on the stands exhausted and bruised._

_Goku turned to Frieza and said, "F-Frieza..."_

_"Stop! Don't you start thanking me. I'll be satisfied so long as you keep your promise."_

_"With the dropout of Jiren..." The Grand Priest began to announce. ...Universe 11 shall be erased!"_

_A bright, white light shone around the Universe 11 members as their universe was about to be erased from existence_

_"Jiren..." Toppo called out his friends name._

_The Gray opened his eyes and he noticed his comrades, Belmod and Khai looking at him in sadness as the fate of their universe was decided._

_"Thank you."_

_"Why? I treated you all with contempt during the fight."_

_"Jiren." Everyone turned to the source of the voice. It was Son Goku speaking. "I know we just finished fighting but I still haven't had enough. I know you'll probably hate this, but I think we both got stronger together by fighting. I wanna see you again!"_

_At first Jiren remained perplexed as he looked at Goku until his face morphed into a smile._

_And then Universe 11 was erased._

The present day...

Jiren was on Planet Dorakyia in Universe 11 meditating. There was a lot of vegetation around and it was calm and serene. Plants were beginning to bear fruit, making the atmosphere more attractive and it was the reason why he liked meditating here. The Pride Trooper could feel the air breeze against his skin as he meditated. He knew there were inhabitants in this planet but he chose a secluded area to meditate in peace.

He opened his eyes deciding to take a break. Jiren thought of everything that had happened since the Tournament of Power. Before he thought that putting your trust in anyone was useless and strength was everything. Ever since the death of his friends, family and master he refused to put his faith in anyone and even treated his comrades with hostility. He hardly ever interacted with them and was a loner for pretty much his entire life.

That was until he met Son Goku at the Tournament of Power. Goku had proven him wrong on his beliefs that strength was everything and that you could still get stronger with allies.

Jiren closed his eyes again as he began to recollect the things he said during the Tournament of Power.

_"So he sacrificed himself to save you two? Ridiculous."_ He recalled Android 17 sacrificing himself to save Goku and Vegeta.

"_I still don't understand. Why put all of their faith in you._ _Trust begets nothing."_ He recalled saying this when Son Goku was standing before him after Vegeta had given him the rest of his energy.

"_Who cares about friendship, who cares about trust? To be defeated would mean to lose everything. I won't believe in such power."_ His eyes widened in shock as he remembered exactly when he said this. That was before he...

No. He refused to think about this. The Gray had fired a ki blast that headed directly for the Universe 7 bystanders. Goku had managed to save his friends in time.

_"The power you believe in can easily be erased. Just like that!"_

Goku began shaking violently in anger. "_I'm not a hero of justice_ _or_ anything, but those who hurt my friends...I DON'T FORGIVE!"

_Jiren was lying on the ground after Goku defeated him._

_"Well, why won't you finish me?"_

_"A man like you should understand what I'm talking about."_

_"Is that all you have to say? Just hurry up and knock me off."_

_Goku formed a ki blast in his hands and just as he was about to finish Jiren off, he lost his Ultra Instinct form._

_"Oh? What happened to your usual poker face?"_

_"Silence!"_

_"Once shattered strength is so fragile." Frieza continued to mock Jiren. "I can almost hear your heart shrieking. Afraid to become the weakling you once were."_

_Jiren reacted out of fury. He began to punch Frieza repeatedly._

_"You said my strength was shattered. Why don't you see for yourself if it really has been!"_

_Android 17 had attacked him out of nowhere_. _The next thing he knew, he was on his knees, trembling._

_Belmod and Khai looked on in shock. "J-Jiren is..."_

_The other Pride Troopers looked on in fear_.

_Frieza approached Jiren and pointed his finger at him, ready to use his death beam on the Pride Trooper._

_"You've lost the spirit to even look at me? What a shame...I can't see your pathetic face in the end."_

_"What are you doing Jiren?" Toppo shouted from the stands. "You would kneel before an enemy? Is this pathetic image how you end?! Get up Jiren!"_

_Frieza turned back to Jiren and said, "Your friend is quite obnoxious."_

_"I have no friends!" Jiren responded while still looking down on the ground._

_"What did you build your strength while trusting no one all this time for?!" Toppo continued to speak. "Fight for your pride until the end! You may not believe in your own strength, but I do. Until the end! Jiren. You are strong! You are...stronger than anyone!"_

_Jiren's hand slowly formed into a fist._

_"Honestly, I feel like vomiting."_

_"Silence!"_

_The Pride Trooper began to stand up as he slowly began to power up._

Jiren sighed at that memory. He lost faith in his own abilities but Toppo had been the one to motivate him to get back up on his feet. Even though he lost in the end, at least he fought for his pride and acknowledged his faults.

_Toppo's words...Toppo's words after their universe was resurrected really touched him._

_Jiren was looking up at the sky after Universe 11 was resurrected._

_"So Jiren..."_

_"In the end, Son Goku said he wanted to see me again. But, because I've lived my life bound by my past, I can't form connections with anyone."_

_"Jiren...have you always been such a coward? In that final battle, you tried to answer all of our hopes. When you stood up again, don't you think a connection formed between us for the first time?"_

_"Toppo..."_

_"Next time we meet them, we won't lose again!"_

_Jiren looked at Toppo and smiled. "Right!"_

_"Next time I'll win! I'll be seeing you Son Goku!"_

Jiren himself thought he had no friends. But he now realized that he formed a strong bond with Toppo. Even after what he did, Son Goku wanted to see him again and settle the score with him.

A smile formed on Jiren's face as he now realized the postive effects of friendship. He was determined to let go of his past and get stronger because the next time he sees Son Goku again...

He wasn't going to lose.

Deciding he was done here, he decided to go back to the Pride Troopers headquarters.

Meanwhile...

Cocotte was in a training room, huffing and puffing. She was battered, bruised and her Pride Trooper uniform was in tatters. The robots she was fighting were definitely strong, all right.

_"I know I can do better than this!" _The female Pride Trooper thought. Thinking about her pathetic elimination in the Tournament of Power pissed her off to no end. She didn't expect to get knocked out by an android. What was her name again?

She couldn't remember her name and cursed herself for her carelessness.

Cocotte was still able to get back up on her feet despite having a bruised body. Nothing could describe the excruciating pain she was in right now. She was able to see her reflexion through the glass and was even shocked to see her state.

Deciding to get herself cleaned up, Cocotte left the main base of operations in Planet Netfiss. The Pride Troopers had several headquarters in different planets.

She was soon in her house, taking a shower. When she was done, she put on clean clothes and took care of her injuries from her intense training workout.

Even though Cocotte had her own house, there were times when she would occupy a spare room in headquarters when she would go on long missions and not know when she was returning.

Her thoughts were interrupted when she heard the beeping sound of a watch. She picked it up and noticed that it was Commander Kahseral calling. The female Pride Trooper picked up the call immediately. This meant that there was some sort of trouble on one of the planets.

"Hey Kahseral." Cocotte answered with enthusiasm in her voice. "What's up?"

"Good evening Cocotte." The male Pride Trooper responded. "Do you have anything planned for this evening?"

"No I don't." She answered. "Is something up?"

"Well I was just wondering if you have time for a little get together at the Netfiss restaurant. We're all going to be there. It's been a while since we've done this since we've had to take care of missions and protecting the citizens from harm."

"Of course." Cocotte replied. The thought of doing something different for once excited her. "I'll be there. Have you gotten in touch with Jiren?"

"...No I haven't." Kahseral answered. "I mean I tried to, but I haven't been able to reach him so I assume he must be meditating right now."

"Oh ok. I'll see you guys later then." Cocotte said.

After Kahseral gave her the time for the get together, the two said their goodbyes and hung up.

After hanging up on Kahseral, the female Pride Trooper was left to ponder her thoughts for a little while. Why did she ask about Jiren's whereabouts? Did something about him concern her? At the moment she didn't have the answer to that question but she'll admit she felt terrible for him especially after learning about the death of his family and master. She remembered hearing about it at the Tournament of Power. Jiren just didn't trust anyone, believing that friendship was useless and that strength was justice, strength is everything.

Cocotte wished there was a way she could help Jiren but she didn't know how.

Cocotte freshened up a bit and left her house to go to the Netfiss Restaurant. Luckily she knew where it was so she got there in no time.

When she arrived, she assumed that her comrades would be on the higher floor. Even though she had been here several times, this restaurant's fancy environment never ceases to amaze her.

The female Pride Trooper took an elevator to the higher floor and looked around for her friends. She could see a bartender serving drinks to customers and could so see other customers served their order but there was no sign of her friends.

"Hey Cocotte! We're over here!"

Cocotte turned around to notice Dyspo waving her hand towards her. She noticed that everyone was wearing casual clothing.

She took the only empty seat next to Zoiray, the smallest of the Pride Troopers.

"So what have you been up to Cocotte?" Tupper asked.

"Just the usual." Cocotte shrugged. "I've been spending mosr of my time training."

"Oh ok." Toppo answered with concern. "Just don't push yourself too hard, ok?"

"Yeah, Yeah I know."

"So, are we going to order or not?" Kettol asked. "We wanted to wait for you first Cocotte."

"Of course. Let's see what they have on the menu." She grabbed a large booklet which she assumed was the menu.

"I don't think I've tried some of these recipes before." Cocotte mused as she read through the menu.

Eventually the Pride Troopers decided on what to order and signalled the waitress that they were ready to order.

As soon as they recieved their orders, they began to eat making the atmosphere very quiet with the exception of waiters and waitresses bustling about doing their jobs.

"So Toppo, how's your training as a God of canditate going?" Tupper asked.

"It's going great. It's a little tough but I'll pull through. Marcarita's a great teacher."

"What plans do you guys have tommorow?" Dyspo asked out of curiosity.

Cocotte shrugged. "I haven't planned anything yet."

The others pretty much said the same thing.

"So Dyspo," Kunshi had a teasing smirk on his face. "Do you have a girlfriend yet?"

The super speed warrior spit out his drink and unfortunately for Zoiray, Dyspo spit his drink on him.

The small Pride Trooper was fuming. "What the fuck Dyspo?"

"Sorry Zoiray." Cocotte could see that Dyspo had some sort of a smirk on his face.

"Dyspo's never going to get a girlfriend." Vuon teased. "He's too fast for the ladies to see and he's so clueless."

Dyspo gave Vuon the middle finger. "Fuck you Vuon."

Vuon just shrugged. "Sorry." The fellow Pride Trooper didn't look apologetic at all. In fact, it looked like he wanted to laugh even harder.

Zoiray wiped the spit from his face and said, "I'm sure ladies would want a guy who's very careful and not a guy who spits drinks in other people's faces."

Dyspo simply smirked.

Kahseral noticed a fight was about to ensue and decided to play the peacemaker.

"Guys please let's not fight here. We're in a public environment."

Zoiray glared at Dyspo.

As soon as the Pride Troopers were done eating, Toppo paid for everyone's meals.

Everyone was soon outside the restaurant and they all said their goodbyes.

As Cocotte was heading to her place of residence, she couldn't help but think about Jiren. What was he doing now? Was he done meditating?

When she got to her house, she tried to sleep but she couldn't. She couldn't bring herself to even close her eyes.

The female Pride Trooper decided to take a walk around Netfiss and clear some of the unusual thoughts from her head. Especially the ones about Jiren. Why did she start thinking about him all of a sudden?

She continued her walk, enjoying the cool, fresh air. As she got closer to a particular area, she could see a bunch of bright lights, making it easier for her to see. Not only that, but she could make out the outline of a figure.

Cocotte squinted her eyes and she finally realized who it was. _"It's Jiren! But what's he doing here of all places?"_

Jiren simply just looked up at the dark sky. He had a clearer mind now that he was done meditating.

The Pride Trooper averted his gaze from the sky when he noticed someone approaching him. It was Cocotte.

"... Cocotte? What are you doing here?" Jiren asked. "Shouldn't you be resting by now?"

"I couldn't sleep so I decided to take a walk around Netfiss. I didn't expect to find you here though." Cocotte replied.

"I just finished meditating." Jiren answered.

Cocotte for some reason was a bit concerned about Jiren. Was it because of the events of the Tournament of Power? She decided to press the issue a little and see how he'd respond.

"Jiren? Are you okay?"

Jiren gave her a strange look. "...Yes. Why do you ask?"

"Well, I know that the Tournament of Power events rattled you up a little. But you should know you have comrades who care about you."

The Pride Trooper looked down at the ground. Cocotte could tell that thinking about his past made him sad.

"I'm sorry for bringing up a sensitive topic. Let's just forget about it okay?"

"No. I was an only child and the only family I had were my parents. When my parents died, I was devastated. My master found me and he decided to train me so I'd be able to take on the evil doer who killed my parents. As you heard from Belmod at the tournament, my master and I gathered more allies with hope that we would finally defeat this evil being. But even with the training and the greater numbers we had, we still couldn't beat him. A majority of my allies were killed and my master died to protect me. I tried to convince the surviving students that there was still hope." Jiren paused for a bit before continuing and Cocotte didn't interrupt but rather decided to listen to the whole story.

"But they all turned their backs on me. That's when I decided that friendship and trust was meaningless and that strength was justice, strength was everything. I refused to form any bonds with anyone during that time and only focused on harnessing my strength. That was until the Tournament of Power when I met Son Goku. He didn't get so strong all by himself. He had allies to help him along the way. When he challenged me on my beliefs as you saw in the Tournament of Power, I became erratic and that's when I..." Jiren was having a hard time saying that part. ...tried to kill his friends."

It was Cocotte's turn to speak up. "But Jiren, Son Goku said he wanted to see you again. I think that shows that he truly didn't hold no grudges against you. No matter what your beliefs are, you still got stronger by fighting."

Jiren looked at Cocotte and smiled. "I intend to get stronger because I won't lose the next time I see him again."

"We both made mistakes and we need to learn from them. The way I was eliminated in the Tournament was humiliating and I want to do everything I can to ensure that won't happen again." Cocotte said in a determined voice, once again thinking about how she was eliminated and it only served to fuel her determination to get stronger too.

"Looks like we both have the same goal too." Jiren commented with a smile still on his face.

Out of the blue, Cocotte gave Jiren a hug. Jiren at first was shocked, but the male Pride Trooper returned the gesture by placing his arms around Cocotte.

They released each other shortly.

"Why don't we train together?" Cocotte asked.

That question put Jiren off guard. "You...want to train with me?"

"Yeah. I think there's a lot we could both learn. Of course if you don't want to, I understand."

"I...think it's a great idea. I'll train with you Cocotte."

"Great! So when do we start?"

"Tommorow, if it's okay with you. I've been watching you fight robots, and that's not exactly helpful. We'll meet at the main headquarters and we'll go to one of the planets."

Cocotte smiled at Jiren. "I like that. Let's meet tommorow then."

After saying their goodbyes, the two of them went their separate ways.

Little did the Pride Troopers know, their lives were going to change in a way they didn't expect. But how will it change?

End of first chapter...

Author's note: Did you like the chapter? let me know in the comments below. Also, I would like a co-writer to write the fight scenes as well as to help me with the story progression. I've never written a Dragon Ball story before and this was something I had in mind for a while now. If anyone's interested, please private message me.


	2. Chapter 2: A New Bond?

Disclaimer: I don't own Dragon Ball Super or any of the characters. Everything belongs to Toei Animation and Akira Toriyama.

Author's note: If you want to help me with the fight scenes, private message me when you're done reading this chapter.

Toppo groaned as he got up. The big Pride Trooper sighed as he looked at his alarm clock. It read 6:30 am. He remembered setting it to that time after he unexpectedly received a call from Belmod last night asking him to meet him at the Sacred World of the Kais. Toppo did a deep long sigh. He had been hoping to take today off and do what he wanted. But as a Pride Trooper and a God of Destruction candidate, he understood that he had big responsibilities. Belmod wasn't going to be around forever, he knew that and he was going to take his place.

He got up from bed, brushed his teeth, took a shower and changed into his Pride Trooper uniform. He ate a quick breakfast before heading out the door.

At the Sacred World of the Kais...

Marcarita was looking at her staff inquisitively, Belmod was lying under a tree while Khai was sipping a cup of tea. Universe 11's angel looked on in surprise as she was observing the current events from her staff.

"Lord Belmod, please take a look at this." Marcarita called out. "I think this might interest you."

Belmod opened one eye and asked, "What is it?"

"Just come and see for yourself." The angel replied.

Belmod sighed as he got up from his position under the tree. The current God of Destruction walked over to where his attentant was and peered over Marcarita's shoulder. His mouth dropped when he saw what he was currently looking at.

Khai had just finished sipping his tea when he noticed Belmod and Marcarita looking at something on the staff.

"What is happening on the staff that has you guys so interested?" The Supreme Kai asked.

Marcarita turned in Khai's direction. "Khai...this is just so shocking. You won't believe it."

Khai got up from his sitting position and walked over to Belmod and Marcarita. His eyes widened in complete shock when he saw what he was witnessing on the staff.

Toppo had just arrived at the Sacred World of the Kais when he saw the deities looking at something that they didn't even notice him arrive.

The God of Destruction candidate gave a fake cough to announce his presence.

"Good morning guys." Toppo scratched his moustache in confusion.

"Toppo! You're already here!" Belmod spoke up. "You have to see this! It'll surprise you!"

Toppo walked over, not really understanding what was happening.

The moment Toppo saw this, he was speechless. It took him a few seconds to finally regain composure.

"W-what? Cocotte and J-Jiren?" This indeed surprised Toppo. He didn't think that this would happen.

_Cocotte and Jiren had just met up at the main headquarters. The female Pride Trooper smiled at Jiren. This was the first time she was going to be training with him. Usually she trained by herself and sometimes with_ _her other comrades, but she was going to be training with Jiren. He was the strongest among them all and she was positive he could teach her a lot._

_"Good morning Jiren. How are you today?" She greeted him with a smile._

_He smiled back. "I'm good. And yourself?"_

_"I'm also fine." Cocotte said. She was glad that Jiren was starting to open up to her._

_There was silence between them for a few seconds and then Jiren finally asked_ _with a serious expression on his face. __"Are_ _you ready for today's training Cocotte?"_

_Cocotte nodded her head. "Yes I am."_

_"Then let's get going_."

"_What planet are we going to?"_

_"Planet Towale."_

_Due to Jiren's ability to travel between planets, they arrived in Planet Towale in a matter of seconds._

_They chose a secluded area in Planet Towale where they began their training._

_Jiren once again had the serious expression on his face. "Today we'll be working on meditation. I'll take a guess you haven't done it before?"_

_"No I haven't."_

_"Come closer. I'll show you."_

Belmod, Khai, Marcarita and Toppo were utterly shocked. Jiren was training Cocotte. This was unheard of.

Marcarita asked, "What do you guys make of this?"

"I have no idea. Considering that Jiren usually trains by himself, I'm surprised that he'd want to train Cocotte." Khai mused.

"But then again after the Tournament of Power, he began opening up more to people." Belmod commented.

"Who knows what might go on down there. I'd say Jiren and Cocotte are friends now." Toppo spoke up. "I'm sure they'll be all right."

The Universe 11 deities agreed with Toppo's reasoning. Regardless, Toppo was glad that Jiren was finally letting go of his past and becoming more social. This was a big step for the Pride Trooper and Toppo was happy for him.

"Now that we've seen all that, it's time for your training Toppo." Marcarita said. "Are you ready?"

Meanwhile...

Dyspo moved around Netfiss in a very bored manner. He had spent several hours training and when he was done, he had been trying to find something to do.

The Super Speed Warrior wasn't sure what the others were doing. Toppo told him early this morning he was going off to train. Eventually he decided to call Zoiray.

He dug inside his pocket and pulled out his cellphone.

He dialed Zoiray's number and waited for him to answer.

"Hello?" A familiar voice said.

"Zoiray. It's Dyspo. What's up?"

"Kahseral, Tupper, Kettol, Kunshi and Vuon are here right now. Do you want to join us?"

"Yeah. I'm bored so I might as well join you."

Dyspo could hear the sound of game controllers as well as Vuon yelling, "What the FUCK!?"

Dyspo was struggling to hide his laughter. He was definitely joining them.

"Zoiray, I'm on my way."

"Ok. Bye."

Dyspo placed his phone back in his pocket. He knew exactly where Zoiray lived so he would get there in no time.

In a few minutes he arrived in the neighbourhood where Zoiray lived. He could hear the sounds of video games except that the sounds were much louder than what he heard on the phone.

Dyspo stared down Zoiray's apartment. It was small, but comfortable. Somehow it was enough to fit six people.

He rang the doorbell and could hear footsteps coming towards the door.

"Dyspo come on in!" Zoiray said.

Dyspo accepted the invitation. When he stepped inside, the first thing he noticed was the large television that sat in the living room.

"What game are you guys playing?" Dyspo asked.

"Space Raiders." Kunshi answered.

Dyspo grabbed a free controller. "Mind if I join?"

All six of them began playing. It didn't take long for Kettol to start screaming.

"WHAT THE HELL? THAT MONSTER KILLED ME INSTANTLY!"

"Next time upgrade your weapons before you play a level." Tupper said condescendingly.

"Shut up Tupper. You're being overconfident because you haven't died yet." Kettol argued.

"Neither have I." Dyspo smirked. "I haven't died yet and I don't intend to."

"Hey Dyspo, why don't we have a one on one?" Kahseral asked.

"Are you sure you wanna get your ass kicked that hard Kahseral?" Dyspo asked.

"Dyspo you're too full of yourself. Let's settle this." Kahseral said with a smirk on his face.

One hour later...

Dyspo was fuming. Kahseral beat him four times and it was almost as if he wasn't even trying.

The humanoid Pride Trooper was on the floor laughing and pointing his finger at Dyspo. "Oh my God! Oh my God! Man, I wish I had all that on camera!"

"Hey Dyspo, why don't _we _have a one on one? I'll roast your ass harder than Kahseral did!" Zoiray challenged.

"Fine! I won't lose to you like I did with Kahseral! He just got lucky!" Dyspo pointed his finger towards Kahseral whp managed to get the laughing out of his system and was sitting on the couch.

"Really Dyspo?" Kunshi raised an eyebrow at his friend. "Kahseral beat you four times in a row and you think he got lucky? Sounds like you suck really hard at video games."

That comment caused all of them to start laughing.

"Shut up Kunshi." Picking up the controller he was using, he pointed a finger at Zoiray. "Get ready to get wrecked Zoiray!"

"Wrong. _You _should get ready to get wrecked."

Dyspo's eye twitched.

2 hours later...

It was Zoiray's turn to start laughing. Dyspo just really sucked at video games.

"Dyspo. Not only do you have to train to increase your strength, but you have to train to get better at video games. You've put up a lousy performance today. Well done!" Zoiray clapped his hands.

"Whatever. This game sucks balls anyway."

Tupper placed a hand on Dyspo's shoulder. "Don't worry. I'm sure you'll do better next time."

"Tupper, you're still laughing."

"Dyspo? I have something to tell you too." Kunshi said. "You suck at video games, and you also suck at getting a girlfriend."

"HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!" Zoiray clutched his stomach. "I feel so sorry for you!"

Dyspo gave Kunshi a middle finger. But that wasn't enough to faze him.

The roasting was put to an end when the doorbell rang.

"Who could that be?" Kettol wondered.

"I remember! I ordered Pizza earlier before you guys showed up!"

Dyspo looked at his watch. "It's 1:00. Have we really been playing that long?"

Zoiray answered the door. There was a pizza delivery guy holding five boxes of Pizza. Zoiray paid him, took the pizza's and entered the house.

"What kind of Pizza did you get Zoiray?" Kettol asked.

"Pepperoni and Cheese Pizza."

"Oh yeah!" They all shouted.

Meanwhile...

Toppo sighed. He had just finished training with Belmod and Marcarita and was now back in his house. The training was tough, but he would make it. What was on his mind however, was the interaction between Jiren and Cocotte. He didn't know why, but he was having a weird feeling in his chest concerning the two of them.

"_I'm sure it's nothing. They're just friends. What could a little training do?"_

He didn't realize how wrong he was.

Meanwhile...

Jiren and Cocotte had just finished their training session on Planet Towale and were now back on Planet Netfiss. The two of them were walking side by side.

"Jiren, why don't you tell me some stories about your family? What did you do with them?"

The Pride Trooper looked at her in surprise. But regardless, he didn't object to it. Before his parents were killed, he did have good memories.

"I do remember a time I spent with my parents. I mean my mother. My father was always working and didn't always have time for us. It started off like this...

Flashback

_Little Jiren was_ _on his way back home after he was done playing with his friends. __He was a carefree child who loved playing in the sunshine. He decided to come back __early so he didn't make his mother worry. She promised they would go out to the mountains_.

_Jiren arrived back in the cottage he lived in with his mother. She was at the front door, waiting for him._

_"Jiren! You're back! Come inside_." _His mother ushered him inside before closing the door._

_"I made some_ _lunch for you. Eat and we can go out."_

_"Yes mommy." The little child complied._

_He was done within minutes. The older woman looked at Jiren with adoration in her eyes. Her son loved __being outdoors. He was her pride and joy._

_As soon as Jiren was done eating, he and his mother went out the door. _

_He and his mother took a long hike to the mountains_. _For two hours they looked at the mountains with Jiren pointing them out to his mother._

_"Jiren. We__ have to get back. The sun is setting."_

_"Awww Mommy can't we stay a little longer?"_

_"We can come back another time. And besides your father will be back soon._"

End of Flashback

Cocotte was shocked after she just heard Jiren's story. From what Jiren just told her, he was a happy, carefree child back then. She truly felt bad for him because after the death of his parents, he went from being a happy child to cold and distant.

"Sounds like your mother really loved you."

Jiren nodded. "She did. She'd always find time for me since my father was always busy."

Cocotte subconsciously touched Jiren's arm. He was surprised by the contact. "Cocotte?"

As soon as Cocotte realized what she was doing, she immediately released her arm and blushed slightly. "I'm sorry. I wasn't thinking."

Jiren gave her a weird look but responded. "It's fine."

"Jiren if there's anything you want to talk about you can always go to me or the others. We're your friends. We're there for you."

"I know that." Jiren gave a slight smile. He liked that she was concerned about him.

Cocotte noticed Jiren looking up at the sky like he usually did. "Jiren? Are you all right?"

Jiren realizing that he had just zoned off, turned his attention back to Cocotte. "Yes. I'm all right."

The female Pride Trooper looked at her watch. She also remembered that she hadn't eaten anything since breakfast.

"Would you like to join me for lunch?"

* * *

Jiren wasn't sure why he accepted Cocotte's invitation to eat out. But he soon found himself in a restaurant, sitting opposite his female comrade eating.

Cocotte looked up at Jiren. "How's the food?"

"It's good. I guess."

As soon as they were outside, Jiren said, "I guess we can go our separate ways now?"

"Yeah."

"We'll meet back at headquarters tommorow and go to a training spot."

Cocotte nodded. "See you tommorow then."

After saying their goodbyes, Jiren and Cocotte went their separate ways.

As Jiren was heading back home, he began to think about everything that had happened. Besides Toppo, Cocotte was one of the few Pride Troopers he was beginning to get closer to. He was starting to have a strange feeling when he was around Cocotte. He didn't have this feeling when he was around Toppo or the other Pride Troopers. Jiren decided not to dwell on it too much and just head home.

He didn't realize he was heading past Toppo's place of residence. He stopped in his tracks when he heard his name being called. "Jiren?"

Jiren turned around to see Toppo step out of his house, dressed in his Pride Trooper attire. "Toppo? You live here?"

He nodded. "Yeah. I just got back from the Sacred World of the Kais. I was training with Lord Belmod and Marcarita. What about you?"

"I was with Cocotte."

"Oh!" Toppo pretended to be surprised. "What were you two doing?"

"We were training. We're going to be doing so from now on."

"That's good to hear. Would you like to come inside?"

Jiren contemplated on this. He was just heading home but it wouldn't hurt to spend some time with Toppo. Finally he said, "Ok. I'll come in."

Toppo stepped out of the way to let Jiren enter. This was the first time he was entering Toppo's house.

"Why don't you take a seat?" Toppo offered.

"Thanks."

Jiren took a seat on a leather chair.

"Would you like some lunch?" Toppo asked.

The strongest warrior shook his head. "No. I already ate."

Toppo raised an eyebrow. "You did? Where?"

"Cocotte and I went to a restaurant for lunch."

This shocked Toppo. This is the first time he was hearing about Jiren going out for lunch with somebody. And that somebody was Cocotte, his comrade. Toppo knew that Jiren was slowly building a close connection with Cocotte. He didn't let the surprise show on his face and decided to change the subject.

"Have you noticed how peaceful it's been recently?"

"Yes." Jiren answered. "And that's the way it should be. But that doesn't mean we should stop our training. We always have to be ready in case a new threat arrives."

"Yes." Toppo answered. "I believe that with my training as a God of Destruction, I'll be able to maintain the peace here in Universe 11."

"That's good to hear. Have you heard from the others recently?" Jiren asked.

"Yeah." Toppo said. "They're at Zoiray's house playing video games. You should hang out with them sometime."

"I'll consider it."

After Jiren and Toppo talked for a little while, Jiren left Toppo's house and went home.

* * *

Cocotte was at her house, her mind racing over today's events. She didn't know why, but she was getting a weird feeling when she was around Jiren. She remembered accidentally touching his arm and blushing. Why did she blush? The female Pride Trooper was trying to convince herself that it was just nothing.

She knew for a fact that she didn't act like this when she was around the others. Her eyes widened when she thought of something. _Did she like Jiren? _She shook her head vigorously. No, he was her comrade, her trainer and her friend.

"_I have to figure out these feelings for myself. We're just friends, that's all."_Cocotte sighed. She wasn't interested in Jiren. Or was she?

End of second chapter...

Author's note: Did you like the chapter? Let me know in the comments.


	3. Chapter 3: Awkward Moments

Chapter 3: Awkward Moments

Disclaimer: I don't own Dragon Ball Super or any other character in the story. Everything belong to Toei and Akira Toriyama. I only take credit for the plot.

Cocotte groaned when she got up from her bed. She looked over at her alarm clock and noticed it was 6:30 am. She didn't understand why, but she was having a throbbing headache when she just woke up. The female Pride Trooper couldn't afford to get a headache especially since she was going to be training with Jiren today.

Ignoring her headache, she got up and went to the bathroom to freshen up. She brushed her teeth, took a quick shower and put on her Pride Trooper uniform. One quick look at her wristwatch told her she still had enough time before she had to go and meet Jiren.

Making her way to the kitchen, Cocotte grabbed a kettle, filled it with water and put it on the stove. As it was heating up, she began to prepare her breakfast. As soon as the water was hot enough, she grabbed a teacup and prepared her tea.

After getting everything ready Cocotte ate quickly and left her house. She noticed that the tea had helped to ease her headache.

She had arrived at the main headquarters where she saw Jiren standing there waiting for her. He turned around when he noticed her presence.

"Good morning Jiren. I hope I didn't make you wait long." Cocotte said.

"No you didn't. I just got here." The male Pride Trooper replied. "Are you ready for today's training?"

"Yes." Cocotte said with a determined look on her face. She was going to get stronger no matter what.

"Alright. Let's go."

They soon arrived at Planet Towale and as usual, they picked a spot for their training.

Once they both settled down, Jiren had a serious look on his face. "Alright Cocotte. For today's training, I'm going to teach you about image training. I'm going to assume you've never done it before?"

Cocotte shook her head. "I know of it but I've never done it before."

Jiren nodded in understanding. "This is how it works. The user must close his/her eyes and envision a foe in their head and basically proceed to fight them as they would in a real battle. However, two fighter can participate in image training together by linking their minds. Image training is very useful when training in confined spaces or an area that doesn't have a normal training regimen. It requires a lot of concentration. I want you to try it right now."

Cocotte closed her eyes. "Okay."

"Remember envision an enemy or an opponent you're fighting against."

Cocotte began to concentrate. Jiren's instructions began to go through her mind. _What opponent should I fight against?_

_In her mind, Cocotte stood in a world of nothingness. She looked around her and couldn't see where she was. But she noticed a familiar figure. It was Android 18, the blond fighter who defeated her in the Tournament of Power. _

_The female Pride Trooper glared at her ferociously like a predator going after her prey. She clearly remembered how this Android eliminated her._

_Without thinking, she rushed towards 18 with a great amount of speed and the two of them began to engage in hand to hand combat with neither of them gaining the upper hand. _

_18, seeing an opening in Cocotte's defenses punched the Pride Trooper square in the face, pushing her back. _

_Cocotte was huffing and puffing but she wasn't about to give up. She continued her assault on 18._

_Soon, she was on the floor. She couldn't be defeated. It wasn't going to happen!_

_The Pride Trooper noticed 18 walking closer to her, ready to take her out. _

_"No I can't lose!" She thought desperately. _

_18's hand formed into a fist about to land the finishing blow on Cocotte when at the last second..._

_"Cocotte Zone!" The Pride Trooper was in a state of desperation. 18's fist came into a contact with a barrier. Cocotte had managed to sheild herself before 18 could land the finishing blow. _

_18 appeared to be shocked. It looked like she hadn't been expecting that to happen. _

_Cocotte erased her barrier and taking advantage of 18's distraction, punched her in the stomach. She began to throw Ki blasts towards her direction._

_The blonde fighter responded by also throwing Ki blasts. Every Ki blast came into collision with each other, causing multiple explosions. _

_The smoke and debris began to clear and both 18 and Cocotte were out of breath. _

_Cocotte continued to glare at her opponent. They once again continued the assault but this time Cocotte was able to land several blows on 18._

_The android was writhing in pain. The female Pride Trooper smirked, seeing that she now had the upper hand._

_Deciding to end the fight once and for all, Cocotte chose to use her strongest attack. "Cocotte Zone Ma-"_

"That's enough." Jiren's voice put an end to the training. "I can see you've gotten the hang of it. Your Ki was fluctuating rapidly so I assumed you must have been having trouble against your opponent."

"I was." Cocotte responded. "I think image training is going to come in handy for me."

Jiren nodded. "If you don't mind me asking, who was your opponent?"

Cocotte hesitated before answering Jiren's question. "18...the one who eliminated me from the Tournament." The female warrior was actually surprised that she remembered her name.

"Next, we're going to try linking our minds together like I mentioned earlier." Jiren said.

Cocotte nodded. "I'm ready for it."

Meanwhile...

Toppo, Belmod, Marcarita and Khai were on the Sacred World of Kais. Belmod was teaching Toppo how to handle hakai energy, Khai was sipping tea as usual and Marcarita was observing current events on her staff.

"Hmm..." was all that she said.

Belmod and Toppo had just finished their training session.

"Yes Lord Belmod." Toppo bowed down to Universe 11's God of Destruction out of respect.

"Has something caught your eye Marcarita?" Khai asked noticing how engrossed the angel looked right now.

"Jiren and Cocotte's relationship is really changing. The two are becoming closer and closer right now as we speak." She answered. "They're training."

Belmod, Khai and Toppo looked at the staff. It appeared that Jiren and Cocotte were doing some sort of training.

"They're doing image training." Toppo said. The big Pride Trooper had done image training before and understood how it worked.

None of them thought that Jiren would teach it to Cocotte. The staff also showed them getting up. An indication that they were done with their training.

"Wow..." Khai said in awe. "That's amazing."

"I can tell that Cocotte is also improving very fast with Jiren's training." Belmod commented. "It looks like she's getting the hang of image training."

"Well, it looks like that's it." Marcarita turned to the others. "It seems like everything is going smoothly."

"I'll see you tommorow Lord Belmod." Toppo said. Belmod acknowledged his goodbye with a nod.

After saying his goodbyes to the deities, Toppo left the Sacred World of the Kais.

"Jiren's relationship with Cocotte is different from the other Pride Troopers." Marcarita noted.

"That's because they train together." Khai responded.

"No, like I mean they spend the most time together even outside training. It makes me wonder..." Marcarita paused for a moment before continuing. "If they could become more than friends."

Belmod and Khai looked at the Universe 11 angel in shock. "M-More t-than F-Friends!?" They both said simultaneously.

"Of course it's too early for it to happen. They're still getting to know each other." The angel said. "Still, it's an interesting thought."

"Wow..." Khai said.

"Holy shit." Was Belmod's response.

Back at Netfiss...

The other Pride Troopers were in the training room. They were all tired and sweaty. Several hours of training drained all the energy from them.

"S-So" Dyspo started, trying to regain his breath. "S-So intense."

Dyspo, Kahseral, Kunshi, Vuon, Zoiray, Kettol and Tupper all lay down on the ground after an intense training with robots. They all agreed to put the difficulty level on it's hardest.

"I-I can't feel my legs." Zoiray complained. Trying to sit up wasn't really working.

After a few minutes, they could get up but their legs felt wobbly.

"So what do we do next?" Kettol asked.

"Get some rest and something to eat if any of you are hungry, obviously." Kahseral answered in a tired voice.

"Great idea. I'm tired and hungry." Kunshi said. "Is anyone up for playing video games?"

"Not until I get my strength back." Dyspo answered. A thought suddenly came to him and he said, "And I'm not going to play Space Raiders again."

Vuon took this as an opportunity to poke fun at Dyspo. "Because you're afraid of getting your ass kicked again, aren't you?"

Dyspo glared at his friend. "Shut up Vuon."

"You know I'm right don't you?"

Tupper chuckled. "Yup. He knows but he's afraid of admitting it."

"Is this the treatment I get whenever I suck at a video game?" Dyspo complained. "You guys are a sack of dicks."

They all couldn't help but laugh at the speed warrior.

Once the laughing died down Kunshi asked, "Has anyone seen Jiren lately?"

"No. Why do you ask?" Zoiray said with a curious tone in his voice.

"I think it'd be nice to invite him to come and hang out with us every once in a while." Kunshi answered.

"Yeah." Tupper agreed. "Since the Tournament of Power, he's opened up more, but at the same time we don't see him very much."

They all agreed that at some point they were going to hang out with Jiren.

The Pride Troopers were about to leave when they heard Toppo approach them.

"Toppo!" Kahseral exclaimed. "Did you just finish your training?"

"Yeah." Toppo answered. "What were you guys talking about?"

"We were just talking about how we should invite Jiren to come and hang out with us sometime. It's been a while since we've seen him." Vuons answered.

"True." Toppo pondered on the thought. He knew that Jiren hadn't yet spoken to any of his comrades since their universe was brought back. This would do him some good.

"Has anyone seen Cocotte?" Tupper asked out of nowhere.

"Not since the night we went out to eat." Kahseral answered Tupper's question while turning to face him. "What made you ask?"

Tupper shrugged his shoulders. "Just curious."

Toppo did a light sigh. He wasn't sure if it was a good idea to tell them what he knew but he decided to anyway.

"Guys, Jiren and Cocotte are training together now." Toppo scratched his moustache, awaiting the response of his fellow Pride Troopers.

"SAY WHAT?" They all shouted at the same time. This was news to them.

"W-what!?" Zoiray finally gathered the courage to speak. "W-when? H-how?"

"I don't know exactly when they decided to train together but I found out because Marcarita was watching their progress from her staff." Toppo answered.

"W-wow. This is shocking." Kettol said. "No wonder we hadn't seen her at all."

"Not only that," Toppo continued to speak. "Jiren told me he had lunch with Cocotte."

Kahseral was speechless.

Kunshi looked like he had his eyes pop out of his head.

Dyspo looked like he was going to faint.

The others pretty much had the same reaction.

"What t-the?" Vuon looked at Toppo.

"Before you ask if I'm joking, I'm not." Toppo answered.

Dyspo regained his composure quickly. "Are they in a relation-"

"No Dyspo, they're not." Toppo cut him off, knowing what he was about to ask. "They're just training together."

"Oh..." Tupper started to speak but his voice trailed off.

"Guys let's keep this a secret ok? I don't want us to bombard Cocotte with questions. We'll wait until she's ready to speak to us about it." Toppo said in an authoritative voice.

"Yeah. That makes sense." Kahseral said. "She's going to ask us how we knew, and I'm not sure I want to tell her how."

"Alright, let's get ourselves cleaned up and then we'll go over to the Arcade and play some video games." Vuon spoke up.

They all agreed to keep this to themselves

On Planet Towale...

Jiren and Cocotte were sitting together in Planet Towale. They had just finished their training and Cocotte managed to convince Jiren to let them stay for a little while. They had gone from talking about their training regime to random stuff. Including Cocotte asking Jiren questions about his past. The male Pride Trooper answered them very easily.

"Cocotte?" Jiren was curious to ask. "Why not tell me a little about yourself? It's just been me talking about his past."

The female Pride Trooper was surprised by the sudden question but she had answers ready for Jiren.

She began to talk about her childhood and what she liked doing during that time.

"I liked reading superhero books." Cocotte laughed. "It was really fun hearing about heroes saving the world...I really wanted to become one so I started training when I got older. And eventually, I came across the Pride Troopers and joined them."

Jiren couldn't help but let out a small smile. "So I'm guessing this is where your sense of justice came from."

Cocotte responded with a nod.

"But..." She started and her voice trailed off to gather her thoughts.

Jiren turned to look at her. He could sense that what she was about to tell him was going to bring discomfort.

"During my early days working as a Pride Trooper, I started seeing this one guy..."

Flashback...

_Cocotte had a smile on her face. Her boyfriend Thomas had been a complete sweetheart and now she was going to his apartment to surprise him. She hadn't heard from him since they went out. Little did she know, she wasn't going to like what she was about to see. _

_When she arrived, the door was slightly open. She opened it noiselessly and stepped inside. The Pride Trooper looked around but there was no sign of her boyfriend. _

_She suddenly began to hear faint sounds. Was it her imagination or was she hearing moaning sounds? _

_Cocotte began to get closer to her boyfriend's bedroom where she was hearing the weird sounds coming from. The door was wide open so she could see everything that was going on. _

_When Cocotte caught sight of what was happening, she felt as if her heart was shattering into a million pieces. At this very moment she felt like she was being betrayed. Was she being fooled the entire time?_

_The emotions she was feeling were ones of anger, betrayal and sadness. Both of her hands were clenched into fists. _

_There Thomas was, in bed with another woman. It seemed that both of them did not notice Cocotte's presence._

_Her "boyfriend" was uttering sweet words into his mistress's ear._

_"T-Thomas!?" Cocotte shouted in rage. _

_Both Thomas and the unknown girl turned to see Cocotte standing there. Tears were streaming down her face._

_"H-How could you!?" Cocotte screamed. "T-This is what you were doing behind my back!?"_

_It seemed both of them were speechless. Until a smirk made it's way onto Thomas's face._

_"Your guess was correct Cocotte." Thomas said, the smirk still on his face. "I only dated you to get my old girlfriend back. So you can back off."_

_The girl turned to face Thomas with...tears? "You mean a lot to me sweetheart. I'm sorry I wasn't thinking straight."_

_They kissed...right in front of Cocotte. Thomas wasn't denying any of this._

_"You bastard! I never want to see you again!"_

_Cocotte walked up to Thomas and slapped him in the face really hard. She performed the same action with his girlfriend._

_She stormed out of the apartment, letting the tears fall freely down her face._

End of Flashback.

Cocotte looked down in sadness. Jiren was speechless. He was shocked by what he just heard.

Finally the Pride Trooper placed a hand on Cocotte's shoulder. She looked at him.

"It's ok though. That's all in the past now, isn't it?" Cocotte responded. "He doesn't concern me anymore."

"It's good you didn't let this change who you are." Jiren said. "That's a good sign. We should move on."

Cocotte smiled at him. His words warmed her heart. She was suddenly getting that weird feeling she had earlier.

_You like Jiren don't you?_

_Shut up. I don't like him that way! We're just friends!_

"Well, I think it's about time we get back to Netfiss." Jiren's voice interrupted her thoughts.

"Yeah." Cocotte said in agreement.

They were back in Netfiss due to Jiren's ability to travel between planets.

The two Pride Troopers were back in the main Netfiss headquarters and were about to go their separate ways.

"I guess we part ways for now." Cocotte said. She turned to look at Jiren.

"Yes. It is." Jiren responded.

"...Jiren?" Cocotte responded before speaking. "Thank you."

Jiren was surprised by this. "For...what?"

"For being my friend." Cocotte answered.

That brought a smile onto Jiren's face. "No problem at all."

The two gave each other a friendly hug.

After saying their goodbyes, the two of them went their separate ways.

Later on...

Cocotte didn't feel tired at all. Somehow, the time she spent with Jiren made her feel like she was lighter than air.

She placed her hand on her chest.

_What is this weird feeling?_

_Ha! So you like Jiren?_

_No I don't! We're friends._

_Yeah right!_

She didn't want to admit it now, but her conscience was right. She had feelings for Jiren.

But the question is, did Jiren feel the same way about her? It was too early to tell him how she felt and besides, what if he rejected her?

At some point Cocotte knew she had to tell him her feelings. Even if he rejects her, at least he knew how she felt. She just couldn't ignore these feelings she was developing.

In an unknown area...

Jiren was in a grassy area on Planet Netfiss. There was one person on his mind. Cocotte.

She may not have suffered as much as Jiren did but she did experience pain. For some reason, the male Pride Trooper was feeling the need to look after Cocotte. After all, they were friends. And friends look out for each other.

When Cocotte told him her heartbreaking story, he felt like he could relate her in a sense because when he tried to gather his remaining comrades to fight the evil doer, they all turned their backs on him. In Cocotte's situation, her boyfriend turned his back on her and cheated on her with another woman.

Jiren was starting to feel something whenever he thought of Cocotte.

_It's just friendship._

But now even he had to admit that thinking about her brought a smile to his face.

Somehow, Cocotte is the one he liked spending the most time with. Not just because he was training with her now, but because he wanted to get to know her for who she was.

He also knew that he had to be more social towards his other comrades. Jiren remembered what Toppo had said to him.

_'You should hang out with them sometime'_

_'I'll consider it'_

And that was what he was going to do.

The Pride Trooper was somewhat thankful for the fact that he met Son Goku at the Tournament. Otherwise, he would have still believed that trust was useless and he would have continued to push others away. But now, he was starting to learn to put faith in his comrades, especially Cocotte.

Now that he was thinking about it...Did he like Cocotte as more than a friend? No, that couldn't be it.

He stopped to wonder if that was the weird feelings he had.

_I'm not going to dwell on this any longer._

Jiren looked up at the sky with a smile on his face.

He had completely changed for the better. And he liked it.

End of third chapter...

**Author's note: Did you like it? Let me know in the comments. Also, I have another author helping me with upcoming chapters. His name is SSJGogeta729024. **


	4. Chapter 4: A Day of Fun?

Chapter 4: A Day of Fun?

Disclaimer: I don't own Dragon Ball Super or any other character in the story. Everything belongs to Toei and Akira Toriyama except for the plot.

**Author's Note 1:**** There's a very dirty implication in this chapter. Look out for it. And I thought I should warn you readers that there's a little bit of swearing too.**

"What's this I hear about bowling?" Belmod asked his apprentice Toppo. He stared at him intently, waiting for an answer from the leader of the Pride Troopers.

Toppo fidgeted with his hands nervously. He couldn't really tell if Belmod was angry with or not. He was finding it to be very concerning as he locked eyes with Belmod for a minute before he answered.

"Me and the others are going to a bowling alley on Planet Netfiss today," the Pride Trooper leader responded to the Destroyer God.

Belmod wasn't saying anything which scared Toppo. He was afraid Belmod was going to say no, until a grin appeared on the god's face.

"Bowling, huh? Count me in," Belmod finally spoke.

Toppo looked at Belmod in shock. "Y-You're coming along?" That was not the answer he was expecting from the deity.

"Of course," Belmod responded. "I've been bored recently."

"I think I'll tag along too," Khai spoke up. "To be honest, I'm curious to see what kind of leisure activities the civilians engage themselves in. This will be a start for me."

"Don't forget about me," the sound of Marcarita's voice chimed in. "I'm going to take part in these earthling activities and I also want to see how bad Lord Belmod will suck at them."

"MARCARITA!" Shouted the Universe 11 Destroyer God. "Did you really need to say that out loud!?"

Marcarita put a hand to her mouth. It was obvious she was laughing. "Oops. My bad Lord Belmod."

"We're still taking care of the necessary arrangements including the catering services," Toppo spoke up. "I'll call and let you know when we have everything ready."

Belmod nodded in agreement. "Sounds good to me."

"I wonder how much fun bowling will be..." Khai mused in thought.

"It's a very interesting game Supreme Kai," Toppo answered. "I'm positive you'll enjoy it."

"I'll see you all later today," Toppo said. He bowed down before leaving the Sacred World of the Kais, leaving the deities by themselves.

The three of them began to converse by themselves. "So, any thoughts?" Belmod asked.

"I think you're going to suck at this game," Khai answered. "You've been terrible at doing a lot of things in your lifetime."

This caused Marcarita to laugh even harder than before.

A red vein appeared on Belmod's forehead, showing that he was annoyed by Khai and Marcarita's teasing.

"SERIOUSLY, KHAI!" Belmod shouted. "YOU TOO!?"

"Lord Belmod, it's true," Marcarita started. "And you know it."

Khai laughed while taking a sip of his tea. "He sucks at everything that doesn't have to do with his duties as a Destroyer God."

Belmod didn't even know what to say to that. All he could say was, "Fuck you both."

"Try not to be salty today, Lord Belmod," Marcarita said. "It's supposed to be a day of fun."

_**Elsewhere...**_

Jiren was meditating alone on Planet Dorakyia. He and Cocotte decided to take a day off their training. His meditation was interrupted when he heard the beeping sound of his Pride Trooper watch which indicated that someone is currently trying to reach him. He grabbed it and looked to see who was calling. It was his comrade Kahseral. The Pride Trooper decided to pick it up.

"Hello, Jiren," Kahseral said. "It's been a while. How are you today?"

"I'm fine Kahseral." The Pride Trooper answered. "And yourself?"

"I'm doing good. There's something I wanted to ask you if you… don't mind," the fellow Pride Trooper hesitated a little before he spoke again.

"And what would that be?" Jiren asked curiously. He wasn't really sure why Kahseral was calling him. Was one of Universe 11's planets under attack and he was needed?

"Toppo arranged for all of us to have a get together at a bowling alley on Netfiss. I'm wondering, would you like to come?" Kahseral asked. He was expecting Jiren to say something like he didn't want to come because he was too busy.

Jiren was surprised at the offer. He was glad that his earlier thought about Universe 11 under attack was wrong. The Pride Trooper thought that this was a good opportunity to take a break and do something which didn't have to do with meditating. Weirdly enough, a smile crept onto his face.

"...Okay. I'll come," he finally answered. "I need to take a little break from meditating anyway."

Kahseral felt that at this moment, he would have dropped his watch if he hadn't been wearing it on his wrist. The Pride Trooper was expecting Jiren to flat out say no, but here he was, for the first time actually accepting an invitation from a comrade. This was a start.

"That's great. I'll inform the others that you're coming. You don't need to wear your Pride Trooper uniform. Just wear casual clothing of your choice," Kahseral said.

"Ok. What time is the get-together?" Jiren asked.

"We're still making the necessary arrangements, so I'll inform you when everything is ready," Kahseral answered. He was glad Jiren was agreeing to come.

"That sounds good. I'll see you later," Jiren answered.

After saying goodbye to Kahseral, the Pride Trooper hung up.

He got up from his cross legged position from the ground. Though it wasn't showing on the outside, on the inside Jiren was feeling ecstatic. Was it because it meant that he was going to have a chance at communicating with his comrades about something other than a threat? A smile was still on his face. Maybe he should give this a chance.

He decided to leave the current planet he was on, go home and get his clothing ready.

At Cocotte's house...

Cocotte was at home getting her clothes ready for the get together at the bowling alley. Toppo had called and informed her of the necessary arrangements, but she had yet to find out the time and where she and the others would be meeting. The female Pride Trooper saw this as an opportunity to take a break from training.

After picking out the necessary clothing, she showered and changed. Her cell phone began to make a beeping sound. She took a quick look at it and noticed she had just received a message: it was from Toppo.

Cocotte clicked on the message to view it and it said, _'Hello Cocotte. The get__-__together will be at the bowling alley at 11:00. If you haven't eaten anything yet, don't. A catering service has been hired to provide us with food. I'm pretty sure you know the dress code. Casual clothing. We'll all meet at the main headquarters __then__ go straight to the bowling alley. We might go to a few other places too.'_

Cocotte gave a slight smile. A day of fun would help clear her mind. She took a quick look at the clock on the wall and noticed it was 10:00 am. What should she do until then?

Her eyes caught sight of the TV remote lying on the small living room counter. She grabbed it, turned it on, and randomly flipped through the channels. At the moment, she was completely bored until she had to leave the house.

_**At 11:00 am...**_

Some of the male Pride Troopers were at the headquarters on Planet Netfiss waiting for everyone else to show up. The people there right now were Dyspo, Kunshi, Vuon, Tupper, Zoiray, Toppo, Kahseral and Kettol.

"Zoiray, what the hell are you wearing?" Toppo looked at his tiny friend. "I can barely even see your pants. It's almost as if you're not wearing any at all."

This comment caused the other Pride Troopers to laugh loudly. This was coming from Toppo, a man who was usually well reserved and polite. To hear him say something like that was shocking, but it was also funny.

Zoiray glared at the big Pride Trooper. "Shut the hell up, Toppo. Of course I'm wearing pants."

"Wait a minute..." Dyspo mused for a second. "Is Jiren coming along?"

"Yeah. He is," Kahseral answered. "I called him today and he said he's going to come."

"REALLY?" They all shouted in shock. Even Toppo had no idea of this and he was supposed to be Jiren's closest friend. But then again, he didn't contact Jiren about it.

Regardless of their surprise, they all wanted to see Jiren again.

The male Pride Troopers stopped talking when they heard footsteps approached them. It was Cocotte. She was wearing jeans and a green sweatshirt. This time, her hair was in a ponytail.

"Cocotte!" Dyspo exclaimed. "Long time no see!"

"Hey, Dyspo!" Cocotte said. She then turned to acknowledge the other Pride Troopers. "We hadn't seen each other since the night we went out to eat!"

"Yeah!" Kunshi spoke up. "Toppo told us you and-"

He immediately stopped talking when Toppo gave him a dark glare. Kunshi cowered under his glare while the other Pride Troopers were snickering. Cocotte looked on in confusion as she didn't know what was going on.

"I wonder, who's going to ace bowling and who's going to suck really bad?" Tupper spoke up to change the subject.

Kettol had a mischievous look on his face as he turned to look at a certain Pride Trooper. "I think Dyspo's going to suck. I mean, he already sucks at video games. There's no doubt in my mind that he's going to suck at bowling too."

Dyspo glared at Kettol. "Shut up, Kettol! Why am I always the one who's being targeted?"

Zoiray grinned. "I think I'm going to be an expert on bowling. Unlike Dyspo." The small Pride Trooper laughed while pointing his finger at Dyspo, who at this point was getting frustrated at his fellow comrades for all the teasing.

"Can you guys please stop? It's not funny anymore," Dyspo said in an annoyed voice.

Cocotte also had a smirk on her face. "Awww, Dyspo. You know it's true. They're just stating facts."

Kahseral held a hand to his mouth while laughing. "I agree. I used to think Vuon was terrible at video games but Dyspo took the top spot from him."

Vuon looked at Kahseral. "Come on Kahseral. I'm not that bad."

The laughing was put to an end when the other Pride Troopers were made aware of another person's presence. And once they saw who it was, everyone had wide eyes and were speechless especially Cocotte since she didn't know that _he_ was coming. A slight blush appeared on her face and luckily for her, nobody took notice of it.

Jiren stood before the group in casual attire. Nobody had really seen Jiren wearing anything but his Pride Trooper uniform. This was a _total_ shock to them.

Toppo was the first to speak. "Jiren. Nice to see you here. How is everything going?"

"Everything is fine," Jiren answered with a small smile on his face. Everyone was surprised that he smiled. He hadn't smiled like that ever since Son Goku requested a rematch from him prior to their erasure. "I hope you're all doing well."

"We are," they all answered simultaneously.

"Well, well, well," A voice from behind said. "It seems everyone is here."

Everyone was so focused on Jiren that they didn't even notice the Universe 11 deities appear before them.

Belmod, Marcarita, and Khai appeared. Not only were they here, but they were also in casual attire, courtesy of Marcarita.

"YOU GUYS ARE COMING ALONG TOO!?" They all yelled at the same time except for Toppo and Jiren. Toppo was already aware of this as he had spoken to Belmod about it and Jiren didn't particularly care whether they came along or not.

"A-Are you guys even good at bowling?" Dyspo asked.

"We never even tried bowling before," Khai answered. "We're just interested in seeing how it's played."

"I'm challenging all of you," Belmod pointed to the Pride Troopers.

Marcarita was barely able to suppress herself from laughing. "Lord Belmod, you're going to suck big time."

"Shut up, Marcarita, you watch," Belmod said in a challenging voice. "I'll ace bowling."

"I'm sure you will," Marcarita laughed.

It was surprising how Belmod was being made fun of the same way the Pride Troopers were making fun of Dyspo.

"Are we ready to go?" Khai asked.

After everyone present said yes, Khai used his teleportation technique to get everyone there in a second.

_**At the Bowling A**__**lley**__**...**_

They all stood before the bowling alley. It was in one of Planet Netfiss's busiest areas. At the top, it said "Netfiss's Bowling Arena."

"Well," Belmod spoke up, "this is it. Let's find out who's better at bowling." The Universe 11's God of Destruction was determined to prove to Khai and Marcarita that he could be good at something that didn't have to do with his job as a God of Destruction.

"Agreed," Dyspo said. The purple Pride Trooper was determined to redeem himself after being mocked and ridiculed by his fellow comrades. He swore he wasn't going to suck at bowling. _That would be embarrassing._

"All right," Marcarita said. "Let's go in."

Nobody else said anything as they were all anxious to know who was the better one. Who was going to win? Who was going to fall?

_This is the battle that would determine it all._

They all entered the building. It was a busy place, but they were greeted by a man sitting behind a counter. He raised an eyebrow at the group as he saw them enter.

"How can I help you?" the man asked curiously. "Do you have a reservation?"

Toppo stepped forward and gave their names. After he did that, the man looked through a notepad, looked at the group for a second and signaled for them to follow him.

The group followed the man to another area, the noises in the background becoming louder and louder as they were led to another area.

They arrived at their destination. There was cheering. Nobody seemed to notice the newcomers as they were all focused on the game.

Another man was there announcing the contestants and the winners. He took notice of the people who just entered and motioned for them to take the last available table which was luckily large enough to fit all of them.

A female individual noticed how Jiren and Cocotte were seated so closely together and couldn't help but say, "You two look like a really cute couple. Are you guys dating?"

Almost everyone snickered, including the deities. Cocotte's face turned red at the question of she and Jiren being a couple. The male Pride Trooper chuckled at Cocotte's expression. He was about to speak but Cocotte beat him to it.

"N-No it's not like that! W-We're just friends! T-That's all!" Cocotte stammered while speaking.

"Oh," The girl replied, realizing she was mistaken. "You two were sitting so closely together that I thought you were seeing each other. Both of you definitely look like you could be more than friends. Oh well, bye bye!"

She went back to her seat.

"Wow. That was… something," Dyspo said while laughing hysterically.

After hearing what the girl said to Jiren and Cocotte, something nasty was popping up in Belmod's mind. Suddenly a smirk appeared on his face. "I think I know what you two were doing behind the scenes. You guys were doing 'it' together. No wonder why we haven't seen you two in so long. Both of you must have been having several flings together...

That comment made everyone go quiet. At first, nobody was able to understand what Belmod had just said. What did he mean by 'doing it together'? This thought pondered on everyone's minds. It appeared nobody could comprehend that. 'Several flings together'? Unless Belmod was implying that Jiren and Cocotte were having s-

Zoiray was the first to speak and his response was a yell. "LORD BELMOD, THAT'S NASTY AS FUCK!"

"You can't be serious..." Tupper said with a shocked expression on his face.

Kahseral sputtered. "W-What the fuck?"

"That is wrong on so many levels," Kunshi managed to say.

"T-That is definitely something else," Vuon said, clearly in a shocked state.

"I-I can't believe this," Kettol said, rubbing his head.

Dyspo's jaw dropped to the floor. "What the hell? That is _disgusting!"_ He managed to say while looking at Belmod.

Toppo gave his teacher a shocked look. "I can't believe I heard this from_ you_ Lord Belmod. That is fucking nasty."

Khai and Marcarita gave Belmod a look. "You have a dirty mind Belmod," Khai uttered, barely resisting the urge to facepalm. "Is this the kind of stuff you think about?"

"Just how many magazines do you read?" Marcarita asked. Even she had no idea that Belmod was going to say such a thing.

Lastly, Jiren and Cocotte were seething. Cocotte glared daggers at Belmod and Jiren gave Belmod an 'Are you kidding me?' look. How dare he imply that they were doing _that_ of all things behind the scenes when all they were doing was _training_!

Cocotte's look towards Belmod would have been intimidating to most people, but it looked like the Destroyer God had no remorse for what he _just_ said. In fact, it looked like he wanted to laugh even harder.

"Belmod..." Cocotte was livid. The female Pride Trooper didn't even bother adding 'Lord' to his name. She looked like she wanted to beat the living hell out of him. The male Pride Troopers were watching in anticipation for what she was about to do to the Destroyer God. "You nasty f-

She raised a hand to hit Belmod.

The female Pride Trooper stopped herself mid-way when she felt a hand on her shoulder. She turned to look at Jiren. The two of them looked at each other for a moment until Cocotte finally understood what Jiren wanted to say without actually saying it out loud.

Cocotte gave a small sigh and stepped back to let Jiren handle this. Everyone looked on anxiously as Jiren locked eyes with Belmod. He gave the God of Destruction the scariest glare they had ever seen him give. And now Belmod was cowering under his gaze. They all smirked, including Khai and Marcarita. It seemed like Belmod was getting what he deserved.

"L-Listen Jiren, I-I was j-just-" Belmod was cut off. Right now, it looked like he was begging for mercy. And knowing that Jiren was actually stronger than him, he knew he wasn't going to be let off _that_ easy.

Everyone was aware of it. If Jiren got angry at either one of them, it wouldn't end well. Thank Kami that Jiren's anger wasn't directed at any of his comrades but just Belmod.

"You were just doing what?" Jiren spoke with that deep voice of his. "I guess you have that tendency to speak before you think. I thought you might have a little more decency than that Belmod, but I guess I was wrong. Would you have been happy if I said that you and Marcarita were _going at it?"_

Belmod and Marcarita's face turned a deep shade of red. Cocotte almost laughed seeing that Belmod was getting his karma. The other Pride Troopers were speechless and just decided to watch the events unfold before them.

Jiren continued to speak with a lot of seriousness in his voice. "I'm going to make one thing clear to you Belmod. If you _ever_ make such a stupid implication again, you can expect yourself to be humiliated in the _worst possible way._ Do I make myself clear on this?" Cocotte could have sworn she saw Jiren momentarily look at Marcarita.

"Y-Yes..." Belmod looked like he was sweating bullets.

Jiren drew his head back seeing that Belmod's verbal assault was enough. Toppo grinned. He had never seen Jiren get angry before, but this just took the cake.

"You got what you deserved, Lord Belmod." Kahseral said along with the other Pride Troopers. Usually, Belmod would be the intimidating one but he was the one who was getting verbally assaulted.

Khai smirked. It wasn't everyday that a fellow deity got himself publicly humiliated like this.

Everyone's attention snapped back to the announcer as he was about to mention the next contestants. They hadn't been paying attention to anything else.

**Next contestants...**

**Kunshi vs. Kahseral **

**Vuon vs. Kettol **

**Dyspo vs. Zoiray**

**Cocotte vs. Tupper**

**Toppo vs. Khai**

**Belmod vs. Jiren**

Belmod thought that his onslaught from Jiren was over. But he was very wrong. What he didn't know was that once again, he was going to be humiliated.

Cocotte was still fuming over what happened earlier. But when she noticed Jiren had a smirk on his face, she knew he was up to something. The two of them locked eyes for a moment. Cocotte had to suppress a laugh as she realized what Jiren was up to. And when she heard the announcer say Belmod would be up against Jiren, she knew the God of Destruction was done for.

_Jiren, you're a real genius._

The two of them looked at each other again with full blown smirks on their faces, understanding what the other one was thinking.

_They were going to get their revenge. _

**Kunshi vs. Kahseral**

Kahseral held a black bowling ball in his hands and took aim at the bowling pins. It was his turn to throw the ball. The announcer had just explained to them how bowling was played. The contestant was supposed to throw the ball until it hit all the bowling earning full points. If the ball didn't hit _all_ the bowling pins, the contestant doesn't get all the points.

Kunshi turned to look at Kahseral. "Aren't you going to throw the ball, Kahseral?"

Kahseral turned to glare at Kunshi. "Shut up. I just want to get a good start."

Holding the ball close to his face, he crouched down and threw the ball as slowly as he could. The humanoid Pride Trooper watched in anticipation as the bowling ball rolled down the ground. When it seemed like Kahseral was going to hit all ten bowling pins, the ball rolled over to the side, making him hit only five pins.

"Nooooo!" The Pride Trooper shouted. "Are you kidding me?"

Kunshi laughed at Kahseral's rage. "Now it's my turn."

The shorter Pride Trooper threw the ball with as much accuracy as he could and to his delight, he hit all ten bowling pins,

"YES! YES!" Kunshi shouted. "How do you like that Kahseral?"

"FUCK!" Kahseral hollered loudly.

"Chill out, Kahseral," Toppo said. He held a hand to his mouth in order to prevent himself from laughing.

"You failed on your first try." Vuon mocked. "Beat his ass, Kunshi!"

Kahseral looked at Vuon. "I hope you do an _even worse _job, Vuon!"

The crowd was cheering for Kunshi and some were laughing at Kahseral.

"Yeah!" An unknown person yelled. "Take that L! You know what L stands for? Loser!"

That comment triggered Kahseral. He turned around and gave a middle finger although he couldn't see the person who just insulted him.

Dyspo yelled, cheering for his friend. "Come on, Kahseral. You can do this!"

It was his turn again. Without thinking, he threw the ball at a very fast pace. The ball hit all ten bowling pins. When that happened, Kahseral jumped up and down. He walked up to Kunshi and shouted, "How do you like _that?"_

Everyone watched as the game began to get very competitive.

Kunshi gave Kahseral a smirk. "Not bad, Kahseral. Not bad. But I'm the one who's going to take the W!"

Kahseral snorted. "We'll see about that!"

Kunshi threw the ball. As he was about to drop the ball, his foot slipped something. And unfortunately for him, he dropped the ball making him hit only six bowling pins.

"What the hell?" Kunshi shouted. "That's not fair."

"I think you must be _tripping_ Kunshi." Kahseral laughed at his own joke.

Kunshi glared at Kahseral. "You know what? It's on!"

And so the game continued on, with one of them making mistakes or with the other one gaining advantage over the other.

Soon, the game was over with Kunshi being declared as the winner.

Kahseral begrudgingly gave a smile while Kunshi held out his hand for Kahseral. He shook it, both of them agreeing that it was a good game.

_At least I'm not too bad at this,_ Kahseral thought.

**Vuon vs. Kettol**

Vuon and Kettol smirked at each other, both of them wanting to see who was better than who.

When the announcer gave the green light for them to start the game, Kettol went first. The fish-like Pride Trooper was so overconfident that he just acted without thinking.

The ball went over to the side and went into the hole, earning him zero points.

"W-What?" Kettol sputtered. "I-It can't be!"

Vuon burst out laughing. "You suck big time, Kettol!"

When Vuon had his turn, the ball didn't hit all the bowling pins, but at least he had points, unlike _Mr. Zero_. After a few more tries, Vuon was declared the winner.

"I'm never playing this shitty game again!" Kettol shouted. "I'm going back to video games!"

All the rest could do was snicker at Kettol's rage.

**Dyspo vs. Zoiray**

To Dyspo, this was the battle of the century. He may be bad at video games, but this was the _one_ chance he had of redeeming himself. And he'd be damned if he let this chance slip from his fingers.

The Super Speed Warrior looked over at his competitor Zoiray, who just laughed at him.

"I know you're going to _suck_, Dyspo." Zoiray mocked his friend. "I'm not going to be surprised if you do."

"Fuck off, Zoiray. I'm going to emerge as the victor of this match. You watch."

It was Zoiray's turn. The small Pride Trooper took a few steps back and threw the ball. He was delighted when the ball hit all bowling pins and scores the full point.

"Oh yeah!" The Pride Trooper yelled. "What do you say to _that_, Dyspo?"

Dyspo ignored him and went for the kill. He didn't think he'd be able to do this and somewhat thought he was going to lose.

His eyes widened in shock when he hit all ten bowling pins. The spectators looked on in shock. Could Dyspo actually be good at something?

Zoiray was surprised. Dyspo actually scored the same points as him. He looked at Dyspo, who just grinned at him.

"Don't get overconfident, Dyspo! I'll win this!"

Zoiray, however, didn't have a good start on his next turn. Unfortunately he bumped into an individual and he scored only one point.

"SHIT!" The small Pride Trooper shouted. "This wasn't supposed to happen!"

Kunshi couldn't help but comment, "You guys aren't even thinking before you throw the ball."

Dyspo threw the ball, hitting the ten bowling pins. The spectators were shocked.

"Dyspo's killing it!" Tupper shouted.

Dyspo looked down at his own hands in happiness. _What am I thinking__? __I can do this__!__ I don't know why I ever doubted myself before!_

The small Pride Trooper looked at his friend. "Not bad, Dyspo!"

The game continued on.

It was Zoiray's last turn and he didn't make it, devastating the Pride Trooper.

Dyspo threw the ball and miraculously got the full points.

When the announcer mentioned that Dyspo was the winner, the Pride Trooper felt he was going to cry tears of joy. He jumped up and down like a happy child.

Zoiray looked down at his hands. He actually lost? He couldn't believe it. Dyspo was actually better than him at something? Well, he had to be a good sport.

Zoiray flew up to Dyspo. The Super Speed Warrior gave him a handshake.

"You got me good, Dyspo. I'm impressed," Zoiray said. "I'm impressed. I didn't think I'd lose at something."

"Hey at least now you'll stop making fun of me." Dyspo smirked.

"Yeah, you got that right. But you _still _suck at video games."

They walked over to the crowd. Everyone was stunned but nonetheless they congratulated Dyspo on his victory.

**Cocotte vs. Tupper**

This one ended rather quickly. The floor became slippery at some point and Cocotte kept slipping on the floor, causing Jiren or one of the Pride Troopers to catch her before she fell to the ground. At one point, Cocotte felt a slight blush on her face when Jiren held her.

Tupper then told Cocotte that she needed to keep a steady ground. The female Pride Trooper then decided that these kinds of games weren't really her thing, meaning that Tupper won the game when it was over.

**Toppo vs. Khai**

It started off with Toppo bowing down to Khai as a sign of respect. But when the game began, Khai appeared to be losing. Some of the Pride Troopers were laughing at the way, while Khai was uttering out swear words.

When the game ended, they shook hands and went to their seats.

"Next up is Belmod and Jiren!"

The God of Destruction turned to look at Jiren and the only thing he could say is, "Oh shit!"

**Belmod vs. Jiren**

Belmod had never been so scared in his life. Jiren kept smirking as he knew what was going to happen. The Destroyer God knew this was payback for what he said earlier.

Cocotte was laughing in her head. This _was_ going to be fun to watch.

Toppo looked on and realized that Jiren and Cocotte had something planned because he noticed Cocotte was trying not to laugh and Jiren was smirking. And to top it off, Belmod looked _scared_.

"Belmod looks like a scaredy cat right now," Kahseral commented.

"Jiren instilled fear in him all right," Tupper spoke up.

The sound of the rolling pins were heard. Once it was Belmod's turn, he was shaking. Everyone watched quietly.

Marcarita couldn't help but giggle. "Lord Belmod already has his proverbial ass handed to him and he hasn't even started yet."

Belmod looked like he had just seen a ghost. Cocotte burst into laughter. Seeing Belmod scared like this seemed to satisfy her.

The announcer looked at Belmod in confusion. "Uhhhh Sir, aren't you going to play?"

The Destroyer God seemingly dropped the ball without knowing it. Except that it didn't move at all. It just stood under his feet.

Zoiray burst into laughter. "Lord Belmod looks like he just saw a ghost! He just dropped the ball!"

Jiren got his turn and aced it again. Belmod wasn't even trying anymore. And for the first time, Jiren actually laughed. He turned around and saw the look on Belmod's face.

"What's wrong, Belmod?" Jiren mocked. "Are you tired?"

It was getting to the end of the game and Belmod hadn't really scored any points. After Jiren had his last turn, Belmod was shaking.

"I-I surrender!" Belmod cried out. He dropped the ball as he said this.

The Universe 11 inhabitants erupted into fits of laughter as they heard this. Marcarita had her face in her hand. "Oh my God, Belmod actually quit."

Cocotte snickered. "I'm never going to forget this."

Kahseral turned to Cocotte. "Is this what you and Jiren had in mind?"

Cocotte nodded her head. She couldn't speak quite yet as she was still laughing at Belmod's humiliation. The female Pride Trooper had to admit that Jiren did a better job than she would have ever done.

"Man, that was hilarious," Dyspo spoke up. "Anyway, what's next?"

To answer Dyspo's question, they received a call saying that there was food delivery on the first floor.

"Man, this is delicious!" Cocotte said as she bit into her food. She turned to look at Zoiray and a sneaky thought appeared in her mind.

"It's funny how Zoiray has to take little bites because his mouth is small," She giggled.

Khai turned to look at Zoiray and started laughing. Everyone started laughing afterwards. _Too __t__rue._

Zoiray turned to glare at Cocotte. "What the fuck, Cocotte?"

"I can't help myself." Was her only response.

_**At the exit door of the bowling arena...**_

The group found themselves outside the bowling area. Marcarita turned to Belmod and said, "Well, I hope you learned something from all this, Lord Belmod."

"Can you please not bring _that_ up again? It was a joke!"

"And a sick one at that!" Jiren snapped. "Just so you know, Cocotte and I are training together."

Toppo was surprised. He hadn't expected them to say it this soon. It still came as a shock to the others even though Toppo said this to them before.

"Toppo already told us about it," Vuon spoke up. Toppo sent him a 'shut the fuck up' look. But it was too late as it caused both Jiren and Cocotte to frown at him.

Toppo sighed. He had to come clean about this.

"Jiren, I already knew about your training with Cocotte before you told me about it," the God of Destruction candidate confessed.

"And how did you find out about it?" The way Jiren was talking right now scared the God of Destruction candidate. Before Toppo could say a word, the answer suddenly dawned on Jiren. The Pride Trooper turned and narrowed his eyes at Marcarita.

"Oops," the angel replied.

"You guys are just… unbelievable." Cocotte said with a glare on her face. "So you were watching us then?"

"To put it bluntly, yes," Khai answered. "Marcarita was using her staff to watch your training as well as what you two do outside of training."

Jiren narrowed his eyes at Marcarita. "I cannot believe you'd do this… I am disappointed."

Jiren just looked at the deities with the most disappointed look he could muster up. And then, without saying anything else, the strongest Pride Trooper headed in a different direction.

"He's upset with us right now," Toppo said as he watched Jiren leave.

"Not only is Jiren upset with you guys right now, I am too." Cocotte said. She turned to the Universe 11 deities. "What you guys did was violate our privacy. I can't believe this!" The female Pride Trooper turned and stormed off as well.

The only thing the others could do was watch them leave.

_**Later that evening...**_

Jiren stood up and looked at the sky. He had attempted to meditate, but even meditation couldn't help keep his mind at peace right now. The earlier events were really troubling him. Belmod's stupidity, the deities and Toppo knowing about their training and outside activities without them even saying a word about it.

"Jiren… are you okay?" A female voice interrupted his thoughts. The male Pride Trooper turned and saw Cocotte.

"Yes, I'm fine," Jiren answered with a bit of uncertainty in his voice. He seemed to rethink his answer when he said, ...I don't know."

She got closer to Jiren and said, "Sorry about what happened earlier. That was just… really embarrassing."

"Don't worry about it."

"I have to admit though you did a better job in dealing with Belmod than I would have ever done," Cocotte said in an attempt to lighten up the mood.

Jiren let out a smile as he recalled the earlier events. "Yeah. I surely did."

"So what's on the agenda for training tomorrow?" Cocotte asked.

"Are you really asking about that right now?" Jiren eyed her curiously.

She playfully smacked him on the arm.

"I'm not telling you. You'll have to wait and see."

"Alright, sensei."

Jiren just chuckled.

And so the two of them continued to talk about random stuff, forgetting about the events that had occurred.

Their friendship was becoming stronger and stronger.

Chapter Four: END

**Author's Note 2:**** I definitely had a lot of fun writing this chapter. I would like to apologize for the lack of detail especially with explaining how bowling works. I don't know too much about it and I didn't want to make the chapter too long although I ended up doing that anyway. I wrote this chapter because I wanted Jiren to get used to being around the Pride Troopers. The upcoming chapters**_** will**_** focus on Jiren and Cocotte's training and their eventual romance. I hope you liked this chapter. Let me know what you think in the comments below and I'll see you all in the next one.**


	5. Chapter 5: Stronger Feelings

Chapter 5

Disclaimer: I don't own Dragon Ball Super or any of the characters in the story. Everything belongs to Toei and Akira Toriyama. I only take credit for the plot and possibly an OC I may put into the story.

_**In a training room on an unknown **__**p**__**lanet...**_

Jiren and Cocotte were on an unknown planet, in a training room. This training room was very similar to the one they had back on Planet Netfiss, complete with training bots that had controllable difficulties. The lights were on, illuminating the entire room. The two Pride Troopers stood and faced each other in a very serious manner. Neither of them were saying anything for a few seconds, letting a little air from outside breeze through the room.

Cocotte was very unsure of what Jiren wanted to teach her. She took a deep breath, in an attempt to clear any unnecessary worries from her head. She looked around for a second before she looked back at Jiren. Finally, the strongest Pride Trooper began to illicit some movement.

"Well Cocotte, what I'm going to teach you today should be easy for you to understand," Jiren said with a serious tone in his voice. "I hope you take this seriously."

Cocotte nodded her head as a form of response. "Yes, I will."

"I'm very sure you're aware of the basic forms of attack. The first one is punching, where you attack your opponent with your fists or your elbow. The second one is kicking, where you use your leg or knees to attack your opponent. Lastly, there's charging, where you must stimulate and pitch your entire body at your opponent," Jiren explained.

Cocotte nodded. "I understand that very well."

The Pride Trooper continued to speak. "We also have the combination type which puts together the three varieties of the basic type to attack your opponent nonstop. These types of techniques usually deal a lot more damage than a normal attack would, but they also drain your energy a lot faster. However, if you continue to overwhelm your opponent repeatedly, he/she won't have an opportunity to strike back. And then there's the linking type where two or more people can cooperate to perform a single attack."

The female Pride Trooper understood this one very well as she and her fellow comrades combined their attacks into the United Justice Stream, using it against Kale and Caulifla, the two power female Saiyans of Universe 6.

Jiren stopped talking and looked at Cocotte. "Judging by the look on your face, I'd say you're pretty familiar with that one?"

"Yeah, I am. Me and the others used a combined attack called the United Justice Stream in the Tournament of Power," Cocotte answered.

"The purpose of our training is to get stronger as well as to eliminate any weaknesses we had at the Tournament. So let me ask you this question, Cocotte," Jiren said while looking at Cocotte. The female Pride Trooper felt somewhat nervous as she couldn't possibly figure out what Jiren wanted to ask her. "Why do you think you got eliminated from the tournament?"

Cocotte's eyes bulged at the question. That was unexpected. She knew _exactly _why she got eliminated from the Tournament. The trainee opened her mouth to answer Jiren's question.

_**Flashback...**_

_There was a beam struggle between Kale, Caulifla and the Pride Troopers Kahseral, Kettol and Zoiray. It seemed that they were all overwhelmed by Kale and Caulifla's attack except for Cocotte, who at the last minute protected herself with her Cocotte Zone barrier while Kettol, Kahseral, and Zoiray were eliminated from the Tournament._

_"Ha ha ha ha ha! As long as I'm inside my sphere, you guys can't touch me__,__" __s__he said with an overconfident voice. _

_"Huh?" Cocotte said as she felt herself being lifted from the ground. She saw that 18 picked her up while she was inside her sphere. _

_"All right then. I guess the sphere goes too__,__" __s__he heard 18 say before she was thrown off the arena, appearing on the stands._

_**End of Flashback...**_

Cocotte had a shocked look on her face as she recollected the events of her elimination from the Tournament of Power. She felt confident that she wouldn't be attacked once she was inside her sphere. What she had never anticipated was that 18 would pick up her barrier and throw her off the arena. The female Pride Trooper felt somewhat guilty as she never even thought of protecting her own comrades from the attack. But instead, she chose to save _herself_. But now she understood what Jiren was getting at. He was helping her point out _her weakness_.

"... I never even thought of saving them in that moment." Cocotte answered while looking down at the ground. "I only thought of myself even after the others were eliminated. I was so sure that I would be protected with my barrier but I was wrong. But now I know why I got eliminated. It was my overconfidence."

When Cocotte was sure she had answered Jiren's question, she looked up at him. She watched as a smile etched its way onto his face. It seemed like he was glad that she figured it out on her own.

"Exactly," Jiren spoke up. "It was your own overconfidence that got you eliminated from the Tournament. It's good to have confidence during a battle, but overconfidence is something you should avoid. In the end, it will be your downfall. This is why it's important to never assume victory until an opponent is actually defeated."

'_That's lesson number one for me,__'_Cocotte thought. _'__I__guess I'll keep that in my memory every time I'm fighting against somebody.__'_

"Right. I understand," Cocotte said, giving her full attention to Jiren. She was now starting to have a clear mindset.

"Now, back to what I was explaining before," Jiren said. "The basic forms of attack. Punching, kicking and charging."

Cocotte looked around the training room for a split second. She could definitely see why Jiren brought her here. He was most likely going to have her train against these robots. _'__They are definitely challenging robots, all right. This must be what Jiren is aiming for.__'_

"Knowing when to attack is very important, as well as to dodge or block. You must read your opponent's movements, see if there's a weakness to exploit, and use that to your advantage. Suppose both of your arms were immobilized. How would you attack back?"

Cocotte quickly thought of an answer. "I'd use my legs to attack."

Jiren nodded. "Exactly. If you're unable to use your arms, then the next best alternative would be your legs. Well done."

Cocotte slightly blushed when Jiren said that. But she quickly shook it off her face when she saw Jiren move towards the controls used for activating the robots.

"Considering what I've just told you, let's see how well you do against this robot."

'_Don't worry, Cocotte. You can do this.__'_

She strayed away from her thoughts when she heard the sound of the robot "coming to life." Well, this was her challenge. Many times before, she often acted without thinking. Now this was her chance to prove she could be victorious. The room was damage-proof, so Cocotte didn't have to worry about it getting destroyed during training.

Jiren stepped aside to give Cocotte more space.

"It's time to begin."

The female Pride Trooper took a fighting stance. She closed her eyes for a split second before she opened them again and acknowledged her robotic opponent.

She barely had time to react as this robot rushed at her with such an intense speed that she wasn't sure she could be capable of doing. Someone like Dyspo would be able to handle this guy. Cocotte continued to dodge the robot's strikes. The Pride Trooper could have sworn one of the robots attacks grazed her cheek, drawing a little blood.

'_I can't keep dodging like this forever.__'_

Jiren's explanations began to go through her head as she continued to fight against the robot. She wasn't going to act cocky like she did in the Tournament of Power.

_'Never assume victory until an opponent is actually defeated.'_

_'Knowing when to attack is very important as well as to dodge or block. You must read your opponents, see if there's a weakness to exploit and use that to your advantage.'_

That seemed to put her ass back in gear.

Cocotte threw a punch which the robot caught with one hand. '_I need to observe this robots movements and find a way to counterattack!__'_

She put her arms in the form of an X to block a robots powerful punch. The female Pride Trooper looked incredulous as she had barely even started and she was already losing.

Jiren looked on as he watched Cocotte spar. He could tell that she was struggling, but the only way she was going to improve was if she fought against foes that were challenging. That was why he intentionally put the difficulty level of the robots very high. To see how she would be able to react. The strongest Pride Trooper had confidence that Cocotte would get through this.

Cocotte… whenever he thought of her, something else came to mind. _Now_ he was starting to feel those strange feelings again and it started off long before yesterday's… well, embarrassing incident with a certain, idiotic God of Destruction, which he seriously wanted to forget. Now was not the time to think about _that_. He had to see how Cocotte was progressing so far.

Cocotte was already starting to feel weakened already. There was absolutely NO way she was going to have an L this early on in her training session. _'Come on, Cocotte, what do you think Jiren explained all of that stuff to you for? Do you think he wants you to screw up?'_

Everything seemed to be in slow motion. The trainee could see a punch aimed for her. She had to react fast or that could be the end of her.

Cocotte's eyes widened once she noticed something. She moved to the right to avoid the robot's attack and kicked it in its metallic chest, making it crash into the wall, forming dust and debris.

_'I was able to observe this robots movements. This robot however, cannot read mine!'_

Jiren smiled as he continued to watch Cocotte. She was definitely getting herself together and he was glad that choosing to train her wasn't going to be a waste of his time.

Once the dust and debris had cleared, the Pride Trooper could see that the robot was still standing. But on the bright side, it looked like it was taking damage.

Another thought came to Cocotte's mind. Jiren told her that special attacks deal a lot more damage than normal attacks, but in return, they drain your energy a lot faster. _'However, if you continue to overwhelm your opponent repeatedly, he/she won't have an opportunity to strike back.'_

When it became evident that the robot was going to attack, Cocotte stretched both of her arms out and began to throw ki blasts at her opponent. Seemingly enough, it was getting pushed back by the ki blasts. When the robot was distracted, the female Pride Trooper took that as an opportunity to rush towards it and land a barrage of thunderous attacks.

With every punch, sparks could be seen flying out. The room itself might be damage proof but if she wasn't careful, she would end up destroying the robot. The female Pride Trooper was huffing and puffing. There was a cut on her left cheek and she had coughed up blood.

Before Cocotte could react, she felt a painful jab in her stomach, pushing her back and making her head hit the wall.

She slowly got up, and the first thing she noticed was that her vision was blurry and Cocotte knew she could fall unconscious any time soon. If there was one thing that was on her mind right now, it was finishing off that damned robot.

The injured Pride Trooper charged at the robot with everything she had. She was trying her very best to dodge and block the attacks but she was also gaining some damage.

When it looked like she was going to be finished off with the next attack, she used her barrier to protect herself but she was unable to maintain it for long due to her injuries.

Cocotte could hear the pressing of controls and the shutting down of the robot. She turned around to notice that Jiren had turned everything off.

"J-Jiren..." Her voice trailed off as she fell into the world of unconsciousness.

Everything had turned black.

_**Later on that day...**_

Cocotte opened her eyes. Wherever she was would have been dark if it hadn't been for the sunlight shining through the window. The first thing she noticed was that a cold compress had been placed on her forehead. Her head was still hurting despite that but at least it wasn't nearly as painful as before.

The female Pride Trooper noticed that she was lying on a couch. When she attempted to sit up, she felt a sharp pain course throughout her body. It took every ounce of willpower she had to _not _scream out in pain. Once Cocotte was sitting instead of lying down, she was finally able to acknowledge her surroundings.

It appeared that she was in a house of some sorts. Maybe a living room. The house was very well kept and had multiple family pictures. There was even a flat screen television. However, something in particular caught Cocotte's attention. She managed to get up, ignoring the pain she felt in her entire body.

On the living room table, there was a picture frame. She took a closer look at the picture and noticed that it was a boy. The boy looked familiar to her as he had black eyes. What also caught her attention was that there was a man and a woman standing on either side of him.

Suddenly, the answer hit her. This was Jiren and his parents. And in this picture they looked so happy which warmed Cocotte's heart. She also looked at other pictures of Jiren and the people she assumed were his friends.

And then another thought came to her. If these were pictures of Jiren, his friends and family, than there was only one possibility as to where she was right now.

She was in Jiren's house. And for the first time too.

_'I'm in Jiren's house? What?'_

Her thoughts were confirmed when she heard his voice, "I can see you're up already."

Cocotte turned to look at Jiren with a surprised look. "J-Jiren. How long have I been out?"

"Several hours," the male Pride Trooper responded, causing Cocotte's eyes to bulge. "The spare rooms on the planet we were on are used only when we're on missions and I didn't know where you live so I brought you here to my house."

"O-Okay," Cocotte stuttered as she spoke. And when she tried to approach him the pain came back to her, making her fall towards the ground.

Jiren caught her in his powerful arms when she collapsed. Her head was resting against his chest as he carried her to the couch.

"I'm fine Jiren. Really," Cocotte tried to reassure him, causing Jiren to give her a 'Don't try and fool me' look.

"Your legs almost gave out on you and you're telling me you're fine?" Jiren questioned. He shook his head at that.

Cocotte sighed at Jiren's words. "I'll stay here until I'm well enough to move. Does that satisfy you?" She didn't want to sound harsh, since she knew that Jiren was just concerned about her. And somehow, she found it... _sweet_.

Jiren chuckled. "Even if I _did _know where you live, you probably wouldn't be trying to rest and you'd just be acting high and mighty of yourself right now."

"Hey!" Cocotte yelled. She raised her hand to hit him but was stopped when she felt pain in her arm.

"You shouldn't be moving so much if you want your injuries to heal." Jiren gave her a concerned look. "Hold on I'll be right back."

Cocotte watched as Jiren disappeared from sight. Once he was out of sight, she looked down on the ground. He was right. The only way she was going to recover from her injuries was if she didn't move around so much. She slowly raised her hand to grab the picture of Jiren and his parents she was looking at earlier.

Jiren… he was a happy kid back then. But now, he lost his parents, friends and master to the evil doer. He was learning to move on from these past experiences.

Cocotte turned around when she heard Jiren's footsteps approaching her. She noticed that he was holding a glass of water in his hand.

"Take this. I'm sure you're thirsty." Jiren said as he held the glass to her.

_'I didn't think I'd need a glass of water. He's so thoughtful...Jiren would be the perfect h-__'_

_'I need to stop thinking like this. He's just my friend.'_

"Thanks." The female Pride Trooper took the glass from Jiren's hands and drank it all. She placed the empty glass on the table beside her.

Jiren sat down next to her. He quickly took notice of the fact that Cocotte was looking at one of the pictures and peered over the shoulder.

"You looked really happy in this picture," Cocotte commented.

"That was me and my parents before the… evildoer attacked our village," Jiren answered with a sad smile on his face. She could tell that he struggled a bit with his answer.

Cocotte slowly turned around and placed a hand on his shoulder, squeezing it gently. He gave a slight smile.

She removed her hand from his shoulder.

"I can't exactly recall when I took those pictures, but I did enjoy myself back then."

Cocotte grabbed the cold compress she had earlier and placed it back on her head. Jiren turned to look at her.

"Are you okay?"

"...Yeah," she answered, completely unsure of herself.

"I'm sorry. I should have stopped the spar before it got any worse. Now you're hurt because of it." Jiren said with an apologetic tone.

Cocotte gave him an incredulous look. "Jiren, don't blame yourself. You were only helping me train." She placed a hand on his and squeezed it slightly. "And I appreciate it."

Jiren at first was surprised by the contact but he allowed himself to relax under her touch.

"Trust me. I'll be fine." She gave him an assuring smile.

Jiren looked at her for a minute before giving her a smile of his own. "If you say so."

"If you want, I can help you get back home."

"Nah. I think I'll stay here for a while and keep you company," Cocotte said, causing Jiren to roll his eyes at her. Though he'd never admit it, he was secretly enjoying Cocotte's presence.

"What do you want to do right now?" Jiren asked.

Cocotte's eyes looked around the house. "Why don't you give me a tour of your house?"

Jiren gave her a strange look. "Are you serious?"

"It won't hurt to show me around unless your house is _unclean_," she teased.

Jiren couldn't help but chuckle at her words. "If you've seen my living room, I'm sure you'd already know that I keep my house clean. And I'm also sure it's the others who probably keep their house untidy by leaving their dirty laundry on the floor and not washing their dishes."

Cocotte burst out laughing as she realized what Jiren is saying was _most likely_ true. Dyspo, Zoiray, and probably Kettol do that.

"Really? Why don't you show me right now?"

Jiren helped Cocotte get up from the couch. And to ensure that she wouldn't trip or fall, Cocotte intertwined her arms with Jiren's. He showed her every area in his home from the kitchen area, spare bedrooms to the basement/storage room.

It ended with Cocotte complimenting Jiren on his cleanliness and in the process, and she could have sworn she saw him blush a few times.

Needless to say, but the two of them enjoyed spending time with each other, cracking jokes and making fun of each other.

_**At Cocotte's place of residence...**_

The female Pride Trooper was starting to feel a lot better. Her injuries were starting to heal and she was able to walk normally now. Jiren had accompanied her back home late at night with her assuring him that she would get the proper rest for their training tomorrow. Cocotte was confident that she would get stronger with Jiren's training. He was proving to be a really good teacher and today he had helped her see things that she'd never seen before. If there was one thing she was going to do, it was to eliminate her overconfidence.

Cocotte couldn't help but think about her growing feelings towards Jiren. While she was improving on her training, she was looking at Jiren differently. Though she was trying to ignore it for the time being, deep down she knew she had to tell Jiren about her feelings. She didn't know how he felt about her. He probably just saw her as a _friend_.

_'I need advice from someone.'_

Cocotte's eyes lit up like lights on a Christmas tree. She knew just who to call. Her friends always used to tease her about having a boyfriend. If anything, they could probably give her advice on how to approach this. She didn't want to do something which could jeopardize her friendship with Jiren.

She grabbed her cellphone and began to dial a number.

_**I**__**n an unknown grassland area...**_

Jiren was enjoying the fresh, cool air breezing against his skin. After he dropped Cocotte off at her house he spent the rest of the day deciding on what he should teach her tomorrow. Should he teach her any of his techniques? He didn't know yet. But he knew he'd have an answer by the next day.

What was _really_ on his mind was him being somewhat protective over Cocotte. She was hurt from today's training and he was only trying to look out for her. He brought her to his house and took care of her until she was ready to leave. Was there a different reason why he did what he did? Why he brought her to his house and not anywhere else?

Jiren couldn't even deny anymore that he was growing fond of Cocotte ever since they started training. He was opening up to her more than he did with the others. And to top it off, his friendship with her was stronger than what he had with Toppo.

Could it be that he was developing feelings for Cocotte? Feelings beyond friendship? He didn't think that would be the case. But at this very moment, there was something he wanted desperately but he couldn't have it just yet.

What he liked about Cocotte was that she never mocked or ridiculed him for anything. Jiren felt like he could trust her with his _true _feelings. He felt like she could understand him better.

He felt somewhat… attracted towards her. Should he tell anybody or should he leave this the way it is?

The strongest Pride Trooper looked up at the sky for a minute. _'I should probably keep this to myself. It's just some silly thoughts I'm having.'_

Little did Jiren know, he and Cocotte weren't going to be friends for much longer. Things were going to change for him.

Chapter 5: END

**Author's Note:**** I'm finally done with the chapter. I'm still getting used to writing the training scenes but I'm doing my best. In the comment section, someone requested that I turn this story into a lemon. I don't think I'll go in that direction even though I've read lemons before. The thought of writing one is kinda****…**** gross. But I may leave hints that a lemon **_**did **_**occur between them. Let me know your thoughts in the comment section below and I'll see you all in the next chapter.**


	6. Chapter 6: A Series of Techniques

Chapter 6: A Series of Techniques

Disclaimer: I don't own Dragon Ball Super or any other character in the story. Everything belongs to Toei and Akira Toriyama. I only take credit for the plot and a possible OC I may put into the story.

_**On Planet Dorakyia...**_

On an empty grassland area, Jiren and Cocotte were standing next to each other, side by side. Both of them were silent, as the only sound that could be heard was the wind blowing and the wild animals scurrying away to find a place to hide, most likely assuming that the two strangers were predators. It was the most peaceful scenery for them.

Jiren broke the silence when he said, "I'm glad you've fully recovered Cocotte."

The female Pride Trooper gave Jiren a smirk. "See? I told you that once I got home yesterday, I would get my well needed rest."

Jiren gave her a light chuckle before his face became completely serious. "Today we'll be learning about ki manipulation techniques. Once I give you a little explanation of it, I'll be teaching you some of my most powerful techniques."

Now _that_ shocked Cocotte. Jiren was going to teach her some of his OWN techniques? This wasn't what she was expecting to hear from him today. Did Jiren really trust her that much that he wanted her to possess these techniques? Whatever Jiren wanted to teach her, she was willing to learn. Because…

She _wa__s_ going to get stronger.

And if she ever saw 18 again, she was going to win.

"That's a great idea since I don't have a lot of techniques up my arsenal." Cocotte said. It was true. The only techniques and abilities she had were ki blasts, her Cocotte Zone, and the more powerful Cocotte Zone Max. There was also the United Justice Stream, a combined technique she only used with Kahseral, Kettol and Zoiray.

Jiren nodded his head in understanding. "Ki manipulation techniques are the usage of your ki to attack your opponent. Powerful special attacks can be produced when using the energy inside your body. The main types of ki manipulation techniques are the following: Basic, concentration, alternation, continuous, and blending. The basic type of ki manipulation is simply gathering ki into the palm of your hand and then shooting it out in the form of energy. The concentration types are the techniques where one concentrates their ki into a part of their body such as their fingertips or their mouth and then fire it off. The way the alternation type is utilized based on how the user arranges it and are often fired off with some additional value. Are you understanding this so far Cocotte?" The Pride Trooper stopped to make sure his student understood what he was explaining to her.

"Yes, I am. It's just _a lot_ to take in," Cocotte answered.

"You'll grasp it soon enough," Jiren said. He then continued to explain the rest of it to her. "The continous types are the kinds that rapidly fires energy blasts but they consume a lot of energy but it doesn't give the opponent a chance to strike back. Lastly, there's the blending types. In order to use these techniques to their full potential, the user needs training that strengthens their strength in combat as well as their spiritual power. It's a combination of the various types I mentioned before. Before we start our training, I must also point out the fact that the usage of ki is not just for attacking your foe during combat. Ki manipulation has many other uses besides attacking. It can also be used as a form of movement or of attack supporting. These also have several variations but I'm just going to mention two. These are the movement type and the attack-assisting type. The movement type as I'm sure you know already, allows you to move through different location by manipulating the ki inside your body and the attack assisting type simply allows you to increase your battle power and speed."

"Yes. I understand now," said Cocotte. In her Cocotte Zone, she couldn't attack back while maintaining the barrier. This was why she had been knocked out of the tournament so easily. She was determined to learn techniques which could give her an advantage in battle.

"Alright. Now that I've explained everything to you, it's time I start teaching you my techniques and abilities," said Jiren with a serious voice. "We could have done this in the training room, but I didn't want to risk you blowing up the place." He chuckled lightly after saying this.

Cocotte gave him a dirty look that he simply shrugged off.

"My first technique I'm going to teach you is the Power Impact," Jiren said to Cocotte. "I fire off a ki blast which starts out relatively small but it expands once it comes into contact with the target."

"Power Impact..." Cocotte mused. Something had just dawned on her. "That's the technique you used to knock out that Universe 6 Saiyan, Kale, after she went on a rampage."

"That's correct," Jiren answered to confirm her thought. "Look carefully. This is how it's done."

Jiren widened his palm and Cocotte watched as a red ki blast started to form in his hand. He pushed his hand forward and fired off the attack. The ki blast began to grow massively in size and it made contact with a large boulder, causing a massive explosion.

Cocotte watched in awe. She _definitely_ feltthe explosion happen.

Once Jiren demonstrated how the attack was done, he put his hand back to his side. He turned his head to look at Cocotte.

"There's something I haven't mentioned about the Power Impact. You can guide the attack wherever you want it to go. Once the blast makes contact with the target, it can travel as long as you want it to go," he explained. "I want you to try it right now."

Cocotte took the same stance that Jiren took. Pulling her hand back, she began to form a ki blast in her hand except her energy was coloured purple. Once she was done forming the ki blast she pushed her hand forward, firing off the attack.

_'You can guide the attack wherever you want it to go.'_

'_Where should __I__ guide it?__'_

Cocotte moved her hand towards a tree, leading the ki blast to go in the direction she pointed. She watched as the Ki blast expanded as it made contact with the tree. It exploded, causing the tree to blow into smithereens.

There was now a dark spot where the tree used to be, and bits of smoke could also be seen.

_'Maybe I shouldn't have chosen that tree as my target...__'_

"Nice job. But why did you pick a tree as your target?" Jiren asked as he saw the destruction that Cocotte just created.

"You said I could guide the Power Impact where I wanted it to go."

"Let's try and use safer targets next time so we don't end up harming the wildlife in the process," Jiren said while staring at Cocotte with a serious expression on his face.

The female Pride Trooper almost facepalmed. She didn't even think of that. How could she have been so careless?

Cocotte scratched the back of her head. "Oops."

"Let's try it again."

And so Jiren helped Cocotte practice on how to use the Power Impact technique as well as demonstrating it again for her to see it closely.

Once Jiren was sure that Cocotte had gotten the hang of using Power Impact, he proceeded to teach her the next technique.

"The next technique we'll be learning is the Colossal Slash. This is just a two-handed variation of the Power Impact. All you have to do is gather ki in both of your hands and put them together to form a single powerful ki blast." He explained. "I'm going to do it, and you'll watch and see how it's done."

Cocotte watched as Jiren gathered ki in both of his hands and put them together to form a single ki blast. As she looked on, she was shocked when she saw how huge the ki blast looked. Jiren then fired it off.

The female Pride Trooper was almost brought to her knees by the explosion.

"What a powerful technique..." Cocotte mused.

Jiren looked at her and smiled. "These techniques use up a lot of ki, but I believe you'll get the hang of it. Now go ahead and try it."

For a second, Cocotte looked at both of her hands and she gathered ki in them. Raising her hands as Jiren just told her, she launched the attack and saw the result.

She was huffing and puffing for breath. Jiren was right. These attacks surely took a heavy toll on your body.

"Tired already? We're not even halfway done."

Cocotte turned her head to Jiren and glared playfully at him. "Shut up! I'm not even close to being finished. I just need to catch my breath first!"

Jiren shrugged his shoulders as he waited a few minutes for Cocotte to catch her breath. He was now finding it funny to see her aggravated and every now and then he'd make a little fun of her to see her reaction.

"C-Can we c-continue now?" Cocotte asked, though she still looked tired out from using the Colossal Slash.

"Whatever you say. Let's practice some more to be sure you've got the hang of it."

Both Pride Troopers were hard at work, with Jiren helping his comrade master the techniques. He was proud of how far Cocotte had come and her willingness to train hard.

Jiren placed a hand on Cocotte's shoulder. "Are you okay?"

"Of course I'm okay!" she insisted.

He looked at her hesitantly. "All right. But if this gets out of hand, we're going to stop."

"...Fine." Jiren gave her shoulder a light squeeze, causing her to blush slightly. Cocotte turned away, to prevent Jiren from seeing the blush on her face. Her mind briefly went back on her feelings for Jiren. _'I have to tell him! But now's not the time!'_

"On second thought, we should move to another location. We've done quite a bit of damage here," Jiren said as he looked around the planet they were currently on.

"Agreed."

And so, the two of them got to their ship and departed Planet Dorakyia.

_**Later, on **__**Planet Towale...**_

The two Pride Troopers arrived on Planet Towale, and this time Jiren picked up a rocky area for them to train in.

"This looks like a better spot for us to train," Cocotte commented. "There isn't any vegetation and I don't sense any life force anywhere."

"That's true," Jiren said. "With the lack of people and vegetation, we should be able to train to our heart's content. Now back to the task at hand, it's time to show you the next round of techniques."

"The next one is called Counter Impact."

_**On**__** the Sacred World of the Kais...**_

The deities were doing what they usually did. Khai was sipping tea and reading a book, Marcarita was observing the current conditions of planets from her staff and Belmod was training Toppo.

The Angel of Universe 11 as usual always saw something which captured her interest every time she observed her staff.

"It appears that there's damage done to a particular part of Planet Dorakyia," Marcarita spoke, a frown on her face. She seemed slightly perturbed as if it was bothering her. All the other planets seemed to be in good condition.

The mention of that caused Belmod, Khai and Toppo to look at her.

"What do you think caused it, Marcarita?" Khai asked in a curious tone.

"From the looks of it, it most likely was Jiren and Cocotte's training," The angel answered. "I'll have to fix it up later."

Belmod rubbed his chin in thought. "So that must have been what caused all that distraction since they were going at it again."

The Destroyer God's comment caused his apprentice to glare at him. "Seriously, Lord Belmod? Did you not learn anything from when Jiren humiliated you at the bowling arena?"

"It's like you're asking to get your ass kicked again," the Supreme Kai said, clearly not impressed by his fellow deities words. "Let me remind you that in terms of pure strength, Jiren is stronger than you. If he were to find out that you were making nasty statements about him and Cocotte, I'm sure he'd hunt you down and send you into oblivion."

The God of Destruction raised his hands in defense. "Why did you guys just assume that I meant Jiren and Cocotte were doing _that_? Did you think I wouldn't have learned a thing? I meant training!"

Marcarita gave a snort. "I'm sure you did."

Toppo gave an evil laugh. "Maybe we should consider telling Jiren after all. You acted like a _pussy_ when you found out you were up against him. The good thing is that you had your ass handed to you. So I'm sure that when Jiren finds out, he'll do it again."

Khai burst into a fit of laughter after he heard Toppo use the word "pussy". Marcarita just giggled.

Belmod glared at Toppo. "I simply meant training you dumbass! Shut the fuck up!"

"Why should I shut the fuck up Lord Belmod? You know it's true." Toppo was taunting him now, which really angered the current God of Destruction.

"I fucking hate you Toppo."

"Love you too," The large Pride Trooper said in a sarcastic manner.

Marcarita was laughing now. "Lord Belmod, you're one big joke!"

Khai continued to sip his tea in spite of what had just occurred. "Agreed."

Belmod could barely even say a word after the deities and his apprentice were making a joke out of him. The look on his face was clearly a look of embarrassment as he was unable to think of any sort of comeback to get them to stop. It was like it was going to haunt him for the rest of his long life. And there was nothing he could do about it. The only thing he could say was, "You guys can go to hell!"

_**Back **__**on**__** Planet Towale...**_

Cocotte was learning a huge variety of techniques which seemed to be sapping up her energy in one go. And every time Jiren asked her if she wanted to take a break, she'd insist she was fine. Jiren was standing and watching her with a smirk on his face. He was watching with high expectations for her success and at the same time laughing whenever she would stop and yell out curse words.

"Fuck..." Cocotte hissed as she was brought to her knees by the Overheat Magnetron, one of Jiren's most powerful techniques. "H-how the hell?"

"Do you need a break?" Jiren asked as he watched her fall to her knees.

"Hell no! How many times are you going to ask me that?" Cocotte asked. She knew Jiren was right. She needed a break but her strong pride wouldn't allow her to admit it out loud.

Her arms were beginning to feel sore.

"One thing I should definitely point out is that while your body eventually get accumulated to the pain, it's important you don't overexert yourself," he explained.

Jiren walked over to Cocotte and held out his hand for her to take. She took it as she slowly stood on her feet.

"Are you okay?" He softly asked as he looked at her battered form.

Her answer was a hiss of pain.

"I-I can c-continue f-further," Cocotte said between breaths.

"Did you not hear what I just said? You shouldn't overexert yourself." He gave her a look of disapproval. "Let's go back."

"B-But-" The injured Pride Trooper tried to argue.

"Cocotte." Jiren gave her a hard look. "There's no way you can continue training in that state. You're only going to damage yourself even further if you try. Let's go back to Netfiss."

Cocotte visibly flinched under his gaze. Jiren's tone left no room for argument.

She seemed to relax when she felt Jiren's hand on her shoulder. Turning to look at him, she saw that he now had a smile on his face. "You did great today. I have confidence that you'll get the hang of these techniques in no time."

Hearing Jiren say that was heartwarming and only fueled her determination to get stronger.

Her lips curled into a smile. "Thanks Jiren. It means a lot to me to hear you say that."

The female Pride Trooper winced in pain. "You're right. I definitely need my rest. My body aches so bad."

"Told you so. Now let's go back before you collapse on me again."

"Jiren!" Cocotte shouted. Her face turned red followed by the Pride Trooper laughing. She playfully punched him on the arm.

"Stop laughing! It's not funny!"

They then returned to Planet Netfiss.

_**Later on...**_

Jiren and Cocotte were sitting on a small boulder together, but neither of them had said much. Cocotte had insisted that they sit together and enjoy the fresh, cool air. What was on Cocotte's mind right now were the various techniques that Jiren had taught her today: Power Impact, Counter Impact, Colossal Slash, Overheat Magnetron, Heatwave Magnetron, Shockwave, Shock Tornado, etc.

But now Cocotte's mind was back to her growing feelings towards Jiren. Should she tell him right now? She couldn't ignore it any longer and she still wasn't sure if Jiren liked her that way. But she would never know if she didn't try. Cocotte began to think about the conversation she had with a friend yesterday.

_**Flashback...**_

_Cocotte had dialed a friend's number and was waiting for her to respond. She began to get oddly nervous as she waited. How would things change between her and Jiren? She was concerned as she was almost afraid that telling Jiren her true feelings towards him would negatively affect their friendship, and she didn't want that to happen. __She knew that g__etting advice from someone __was__ the right thing to do. _

_She was brought back __to__ reality when she heard a voice on the other line. _

_"Hello?" __a__ female voice said. _

_"Hey Cassandra. It's Cocotte__,__" __t__he female Pride Trooper answered. _

_"Cocotte. How are you doing? You rarely call__,__" __said t__he voice on the other lin__e__. _

_"__Yeah,__ sorry about that. I've been busy lately__,__" __s__he answered. "There's something I need to talk to you about." _

_Cassandra picked up on the fact that her friend was acting nervous and she usually wasn't. What could be the reason behind it?_

_"You sound nervous Cocotte. Is everything okay?" __s__he asked in a worried tone. _

_"Y-Yeah b-but..__."__ Cocotte started but her voice trailed off. "I-It's about a guy..." __she said,__ finish__ing__ her sentence in a nervous manner._

_Cassandra was speechless. And then suddenly she started laughing, which confused Cocotte._

_"W-Why are you laughing?" Cocotte asked in a confused tone._

_"You're nervous about a guy?" __s__he asked. "Who is he?"_

_"It's someone who's part of the Pride Troopers like I am__,__" Cocotte answered. "His name is Jiren."_

_Cassandra was aware of the fact that Cocotte was part of the Pride Troopers and understood what her job __wa__s__: p__rotecting the citizens._

_"Tell me more__…"__ Cassandra started. "And then I can help you."_

_"Well, we started training together recently, and in the process I started to know him a lot better for who he is. Cassandra__…__ I think I like him__,__" Cocotte said, placing a hand on her chest. "But the problem is, I don't know how to tell him. I don't want to ruin the friendship between us."_

_She told her friend about how she collapsed from exhaustion and how Jiren brought her to his house and took care of her while she was injured. In her mind, Cocotte thought that it was an act of kindness._

_"Wow__…"__ Cassandra said. "Cocotte__, __there's a chance he likes you back but hasn't said anything."_

_Cocotte was surprised. Could Jiren like her back? She found it impossible to believe._

_"Well, __g__iven the amount of time you two spend together, I think there's a real spark. You haven't dated anyone since Thomas__…"_

_"Did you really have to bring him up?"_

_"You seemed really happy with him until you found out he was cheating on you."_

_C__ocotte pondered on this thought. __"Maybe I should just call Jiren and tell him…"_

_"No, Cocotte. You should tell him face to face so you can gauge his reaction. He's your teacher and you said he's also your friend. I know you want to take things further. Ask him to meet you somewhere. Tell him you've been thinking about him as more than a friend and you'd like to go out with him. If he tells you __'__yes__'__ and the moment feels right, you should kiss him or wait for him to kiss you. Calling him just seems like the coward's way out. Choose a romantic setting and tell him how you really feel." Cassandra explained. "And then you__'ll __have won him over."_

_Cocotte opened her eyes as she knew her friend was right. She had to tell him face to face. _

_"You're right, Cassandra. I'll tell him soon."_

_"All right. Call me and let me know how it works out. Don't be scared! I know you can do it."_

_"Alright. I won't keep you longer. Bye!"_

_"Bye, Cocotte. I look forward to seeing you again."_

_And then the line went dead. _

_**End of Flashback...**_

"Cocotte? Cocotte?"

The female Pride Trooper's attention was brought back to reality. Jiren was snapping his fingers to get her attention.

"J-Jiren! I'm so sorry. I must have been staring off into space," Cocotte said. She knew she had to take her friend's advice and just tell Jiren how she felt. But her fear always took over.

"We should get going," the male Pride Trooper said. He was starting to notice that something felt off about the way Cocotte was behaving. Whenever they weren't training, there were times she was acting nervous. And Jiren had the feeling that the reason for her nervousness was because of him. Was she feeling uncomfortable around him? Was something bothering her?

"Wait! Before that…" Cocotte spoke up. "There's something I need to tell you Jiren."

Now Jiren could see that Cocotte was fidgeting with her fingers. The number one piece of evidence.

"I-I… uhm… uhhh..." Cocotte couldn't quite find the words to express her feelings towards him. _'I can't do this!' _

"You know what? Nevermind. It was just something silly that I was thinking about. It's nothing," Cocotte quickly said, waving her hands in front of him as an indication that it was nothing to worry about.

Jiren gave a light sigh. "Cocotte, are you sure everything's all right?" He almost couldn't stand this. "Do you feel… uncomfortable around me?"

"No! Not at all!" Cocotte tried to reassure him. "Please don't think like that!" The problem wasn't with Jiren _per se, _but it was the simple fact that Cocotte couldn't even get her feelings out because she was _afraid_ of dampening the friendship she currently has with him.

"If you say so." He let it go with a shrug of his shoulders. "We should head back."

_'Cocotte, you idiot! You could have told him back there! You just had to be a scaredy cat, didn't you?'_

That was the last thought on her mind as she and Jiren said their goodbyes and went their separate ways.

Chapter 6: END

**Author's Note:**** Let me know your thoughts in the comment section below. I promise that things **_**will**_** get serious in the next chapters. And I don't mean the training kind of serious. You guys know the kind of serious I mean. Anyway, I'll see you all in the next chapter.**


	7. Chapter 7:Heartwarming Confessions

Chapter 7: Heartwarming Confessions

Disclaimer: I don't own Dragon Ball Super or any other character in this story. Everything belongs to Toei and Akira Toriyama. I only take credit for the plot and the OCs.

_**In the morning...**_

Cocotte was sitting on her bed in a cross legged position. As she was meditating, the female Pride Trooper took slow, laboured breaths. It seemed that even with her meditation, she still seemed troubled. Deciding that she was done, she opened her eyes and looked around her small, stuffy room. If Cocotte was being honest with herself she didn't like the interior of her house as much as she should. Jiren's house was much more _comfortable_ and felt more like _home_ than hers ever was.

A part of her felt extremely guilty. Guilty because of her fear of admitting her feelings to Jiren. She _almost_ had it yesterday. She had the chance to admit to Jiren how she really feels about him and she completely blew it because of her own fear. _'What if Jiren rejects me? What does he think of me? Does he see me as his friend__…__ or something more?'_

"You'll never know unless you try": it was the thing she kept telling herself. She did just that, and yet she kept preventing herself from revealing the truth. Not only that, but the way Jiren was worried about her made her feel even more guilty.

"_Cocotte. Are you sure everything's all right? Do you feel__…__ uncomfortable around me?__"_

"_No! Not at all! Please don't think like that!__"_

At this moment, Cocotte just felt ashamed of herself. She was a Pride Trooper and she fought for justice. But despite how tough she was, she always had a weak side, like most warriors of justice did.

"I'm pathetic," she said to no one in particular. Even after that talk she had with Cassandra yesterday, she _still _couldn't do it.

Cocotte took a quick look at her alarm clock. She and Jiren had decided that today would be a day off from training. Not really knowing what to do, she slowly got up from bed and made her way towards the bathroom to shower and get freshened up. Once she finished, she was on her way to the kitchen to prepare something for breakfast when she heard her cell phone ring from the pocket of her jeans. She dug into her pocket to pick it up and saw who was calling her.

As soon as Cocotte saw who was calling, she began to sweat profusely.

_'Oh shit!'_

It was her long-time friend Cassandra. Cocotte began to get nervous so she immediately went to the living room and sat down on the couch to help calm her nerves. What was she supposed to tell her friend? The pink-haired Pride Trooper knew Cassandra was going to ask about how things went with Jiren. Her mind simply went blank. What was she supposed to do?

Cocotte thought about rejecting the call, but she was well aware of the fact that if she didn't pick up, her friend would just keep _calling_ until she finally answered. She picked up and said, "Good morning, Cassandra."

"Hey Cocotte. What's up?"

"Not much. I was just about to get something to eat for breakfast. What about you?" Cocotte tried to sound as normal as possible so her friend wouldn't be able to tell that something was wrong.

"Just the usual stuff, you know?" Cassandra's tone sounded bored, as if her mind was drawn to a blank as to what to do for the day.

The female Pride Trooper was glad that her friend hadn't asked how things went with Jiren. However, her internal joy was short lived when Cassandra asked the question she really didn't want to answer. She was _literally_ done for.

"About that talk we had yesterday… how did things go? Did you confess to Jiren? How did he take it? Did he say he liked you or not?"

Cocotte gave a light sigh. "Well… I… uh…"

"Cocotte." There was a serious tone in Cassandra's voice which almost sent shivers down Cocotte's spine."There is nothing scary about telling a guy you like him. There's really nothing to be afraid of." Her voice became softer and she said, "Are you free right now?"

"Y-Yes..." Cocotte answered.

"We can have a talk about this over some breakfast," Cassandra said. "Does that sound good?"

Cocotte nodded her head as if there was somebody else in the room with her. "Yeah. Sounds good."

"I'll see you soon, ok?"

"Bye." Cocotte bid goodbye to her friend and she hung up.

The female Pride Trooper looked at her cell phone for a split second. She knew Cassandra very well and knew that her friend was going to give her tips on how to _win Jiren over_.

She descended from the living room to go and get ready to have breakfast with Cassandra.

_**On another **__**p**__**lanet...**_

A red aura enveloped the outline of Jiren's body as the male Pride Trooper meditated on a secluded area with no signs of life. Soon, the red aura disappeared as his meditating was complete. Despite the fact that Jiren looked emotionless, deep down he was troubled. And he understood why, because it had to do with Cocotte.

Whenever he and Cocotte weren't busy training together, he noticed that Cocotte would sometimes act nervous around him. He never once tried to intimidate her. They had been on very friendly terms with each other. While Jiren wasn't quite sure why Cocotte was behaving this way, he had a very strong feeling that the reason for his friend's discomfort was because of… him.

Aside from Toppo, Cocotte was also one of the people he had become very close to. Not just because of their training, but because the two of them had developed a strong friendship. The male Pride Trooper didn't want to lose the friendship he had with Cocotte. She meant a lot to him. He could clearly recall when they had finished their training and Cocotte _wanted_ to tell him somethingbut she panicked and tried to rub it off as nothing.

"_There's something I need to tell you Jiren.__"_

Jiren remembered when he took note of the fact that Cocotte was fidgeting with her fingers. As if she was afraid to admit something.

"_I-I__…__ uhm__…__ uhhh__…"_

"_You know what? Nevermind. It was just something silly that I was thinking about. It's nothing.__"_

Well, it was clearly NOT nothing. That may have been what Cocotte said, but her body language told him otherwise. Something was definitely bothering her. But what could it be?

Jiren got up from his meditating position and looked up at the sky. Cocotte's strange behavior was really concerning to him. He was going to ask her about it when he saw her tomorrow-

That thought stopped in its tracks when his Pride Trooper watch started beeping. He saw that it was Toppo calling him and answered the call.

"Toppo? What is it? Is a planet under attack?" Jiren asked with his almost normally serious voice.

"No... but I wanted to talk to you if you were available," he said. There was a slight hesitation in his voice before asking, "Are you?"

Jiren closed his eyes for a split second to think. He didn't have anything else planned for the day except for meditating. So why not?

"Yes, I'm available," Jiren finally answered. "Where are we meeting?"

"I'm at my house right now," Toppo responded. "Come there."

"Alright. I'll be there soon."

After he hung up on his friend, Jiren wondered what Toppo would want to talk about with him. The God of Destruction candidate sounded hesitant. Sighing to himself, Jiren left the planet he was on to be on his way to Toppo's house.

_**In**__** a busy area **__**on**__** Netfiss...**_

Cocotte was bustling through the crowds of people. She could have used her powers to get through the crowd, but she didn't want to freak anyone out. Cassandra had asked her to come to a restaurant on Netfiss for breakfast.

The female Pride Trooper arrived at the place where Cassandra had told her they would meet. She could see that there were a lot of shops that used nice, attractive billboards for advertising. It was one of the reasons she loved Netfiss so much. The environment was just so beautiful that it attracted so many people.

She entered a large restaurant that served breakfast, lunch and dinner. There were already people here.

Cocotte looked around for Cassandra. She didn't think she'd ever find her friend until she saw a hand waving in her direction.

"I'm over here, Cocotte!"

Once Cocotte saw Cassandra, she could see how much her friend had changed since the last time she saw her. Cassandra wasn't human. Cocotte wasn't quite sure what species her long time friend was. She was wearing jeans, a light pink sweater and nice flip flops to go with it.

Cassandra got up and hugged Cocotte tightly.

"Oh my God! It's been so long since we last saw each other!"

"Sit down! Sit down!"

The two of them were sitting at a small table opposite of each other. Cassandra signaled to the waiter that they were ready to order.

After placing in their drinks and breakfast orders, the two friends talked about random things from work to personal stuff. Cassandra decided to pop up the question, "About that guy you mentioned, Jiren, was it?"

"Yes, that's his name," Cocotte answered.

"Cocotte, if the two of you have been spending this much time together then there's a chance he likes you too but he hasn't shown it," Cassandra said.

"But what if he sees all this as just a friendly interaction?" Cocotte inquired. "I think he does."

"Cocotte, are you really trying to drag yourself down?" Cassandra asked. "I'm going to try and explain how you can get his attention. And don't you dare say that this isn't going to work."

Cocotte sighed. "You really are the expert on this aren't you?"

"I've been at the game for years now. I know my stuff about dating." It was true. Cassandra was older than Cocotte and knew a lot more stuff about dating than she did.

Cocotte rested her arms on the table. "Well, I'm ready to hear you out."

"The first one is, just straight up tell him. Obviously a guy will know you like him if you tell him. But I can tell that you don't have the guts to tell him you like him given how you've been a scaredy cat." Cocotte would have given her friend a glare, but she knew that Cassandra was telling the truth on this one. "Most girls want to make more of an impression rather than just telling them face to face. But this is the route you should take if nothing else works."

"Number two is to try and show an interest in the things he likes doing. This is one of the methods you can use to show a guy you like him. Once a guy notices that you've taken up his interests, he may start seeing you as a potential love interest." When Cassandra was done explaining method number two, she looked over at Cocotte to make sure she was listening. When the female Pride Trooper nodded her head, she continued to speak.

"Method number three is... Cassandra's voice trailed off as she gave Cocotte a smirk. Cocotte noticed this and gave her a weird expression. "What?"

"Complimenting him on his looks," she answered which caused Cocotte's face to turn red from embarrassment. "If you do find a guy attractive, you should obviously tell him. Telling him you find him attractive will make him take notice of how you look."

Cassandra giggled once she noticed the expression on Cocotte's face. "What's wrong? Too shy?"

"S-Shut up!" Cocotte shouted.

"Complimenting his work also does the trick though most guys think that it's just a friendly thing. They feel flattered when you tell them how good they are at their job. They'll take notice of you too."

"The next one is to ask your crush about his personal life. If you have an interest in someone's personal life, it's taken as a sign of interest. You can ask him about his family or his childhood. He'll definitely see that you're trying to get to know him more as a person and take it that you're interested in him."

When Cassandra explained that one, Cocotte's face became crestfallen, which didn't go unnoticed by her friend. The Pride Trooper already knew about Jiren's tragic childhood. His friends, family, and master had all been killed by a terrible evildoer, and this was what literally caused Jiren to believe that trust was useless and that brute strength was everything.

"Is something wrong, Cocotte?" Her friend inquired.

Cocotte shook her head rapidly. "N-No! And don't you dare try to say that I'm scared to tell Jiren!" She just didn't want to tell Cassandra about Jiren's backstory. It was just so sad and so horrible.

Cocotte's voice became lower and said, "I can't share the details with you, but his childhood was so horrible."

Even though she may not know the details behind his past, Cassandra just nodded. She was already feeling sympathetic towards Jiren even though she didn't know about his past and understood why Cocotte didn't want to share any details about it. "I'm guessing that point is out given that you already know about him."

Cassandra went on to explain to Cocotte how using body language - smiling around him and making eye contact - can catch his attention. On the inside, Cocotte sighed. She didn't realize her friend could talk so much nonstop and almost got bored listening to some of her points.

"Men love surprises. I say you should show up to his house with a cooked meal or one of his favorite treats. They'll definitely see that you've got a thing for them."

Cassandra sighed. "The last point is to just ask him out on a date. If you try all these methods and they don't work, just ask them out. A date means you like him."

Cocotte closed her eyes in thought. "That was a handful to take in."

"If he rejects you despite your best efforts, there are plenty of fish in the sea." Cassandra responded. "And don't go acting all depressed if rejection _actually_ happens like you've been fearing."

Cocotte simply glared at her friend. ''Why would I be acting all depressed? It could mean that he doesn't like me back or he just prefers the single life. This doesn't mean he's going to hate me. We could still remain friends."

"Do you want to know something, Cocotte? You _need_ to take this opportunity while you still have it. If you don't, another woman could take him away from you. And then you'll be lamenting in your own pity because you couldn't even _confess_ to a guy."

That was _impossible_. Or at least to Cocotte, it was. But the Pride Trooper was aware that Jiren had gotten friendly with some of the residents ever since the Tournament of Power. She took a minute to process what Cassandra just told her and in no time realized that her friend was right. Though the chances of it happening was very slim, she couldn't let _that_ take place. If Jiren got together with another woman before she had the opportunity to confess her feelings… _She was going to regret it._

Cassandra raised an eyebrow at Cocotte, who seemed to stare off into space. "Hello? Earth to Cocotte?"

Cocotte's attention was brought back to reality when she heard her friend's voice.

"Did you think about what I just said? How are you going to handle this situation?" Her friend inquired.

Cocotte's hands gripped the edges of the table they were sitting on, though not tightly. "I'm going to see Jiren today and tell him. Another woman dating him? Over my dead body!"

A smirk wore it's way onto Cassandra's face as her words finally got through to Cocotte.

"That's nice to hear, my friend. Have faith in yourself."

"Thanks Cassandra," Cocotte said. "I think I can do this now."

Their conversation was interrupted when their breakfast arrived.

The waitress placed their food on the table and left to perform her other duties. The two friends dug into their food, occasionally commenting on how good it was.

Within a few minutes they were done. Cocotte dug into her pocket to take out some money but Cassandra stopped her in the process.

"No, it's okay, Cocotte. I'll pay for our meals."

After Cassandra was done paying, the two of them were standing outside the restaurant.

"So…" Cocotte paused. "What are you going to do next?"

Cassandra shrugged. "I don't know. Maybe I'll go visit some of my other friends."

"Well I'm going to go think about how I'm going to tell Jiren my feelings. I'll try not to freak out if he says he's not interested."

"Remember, don't be a scaredy cat and run away from this. If you do…"

"Another woman could take him away." Cocotte smiled. "Thanks for the help, Cassandra."

"No problem, Cocotte. That's what friends are for. Anyway, I've got to get going."

"See you some other time."

The two friends hugged each other before going their separate ways.

As Cocotte was moving, the only thing on her mind was what Cassandra told her. She was right. She couldn't be scared. She had to act _today._

_**At Toppo's residence...**_

The God of Destruction candidate sat in his living room while waiting for Jiren to arrive. He fidgeted with his fingers as he waited. He had so much to say to Jiren. He wanted to apologize for revealing their training sessions to the Pride Troopers. The more he thought about it, he realized it was insensitive of him to do.

Toppo could finally sense Jiren's ki approaching his location. He moved from his sitting position to go and open the door before Jiren had the chance to knock.

He opened it and there Jiren was, wearing his Pride Trooper uniform. Toppo stepped out of the way to allow Jiren to enter before shutting it again.

The two of them greeted each other before Jiren asked, "You wanted to discuss something with me?"

"Y-Yes I did." Toppo answered. He gestured for Jiren to sit on the couch and the Pride Trooper did so, allowing himself to relax.

Toppo sat on a couch opposite Jiren. He took a deep breath before he began to speak.

"I wanted to apologize to you."

Jiren gave Toppo a look of surprise. "For what?"

"For blurting out to everyone about your training with Cocotte. It was insensitive of me and for that, I'm sorry." Toppo responded with a tone of shame. An indication that he regretted his actions.

Jiren was in a little bit of shock. He couldn't be angry at Toppo for that. If there was anybody he _should_ be pissed off at, it would be Marcarita for using her staff to spy on them, not respecting their privacy and Belmod for his complete and utter stupidity.

"Since I was training with Lord Belmod on the Sacred World of the Kais, Marcarita let me, Khai, and Belmod in on the events occuring on her staff. I shouldn't have let the rest in on what you two were doing. I hope you forgive me," Toppo said, his voice filled with shame.

There was a bit of silence, causing Toppo to wonder if Jiren was still mad at him.

"Toppo," Jiren said at last, causing the large Pride Trooper to look at him. "It's fine. I'm not angry at you. We all make mistakes, don't we? And besides, if there's anyone I'm still angry at, it's Marcarita and Belmod."

Jiren reassured Toppo by giving him a slight smile. And the God of Destruction candidate actually felt relieved.

"So… how is the training going so far?" Toppo couldn't help but ask.

"It's going very well. I taught Cocotte some of my techniques yesterday," Jiren answered.

Toppo's eyes bulged when he heard this. Jiren teaching Cocotte HIS techniques?

"How is it going so far? Do you think she's going to master it?"

"I believe she will. She's determined to get stronger," Jiren answered, admiring that aspect of hers.

Toppo couldn't help but smile at that.

"But…" Jiren's voice trailed off. He wasn't quite sure he should mention his concerns about Cocotte to Toppo.

"Jiren. Is something wrong?" Toppo could immediately sense that something was troubling his friend.

"I'm worried about Cocotte," he finally said.

Toppo looked dumbfounded at that. "What... I thought you said she was doing all right in her training?"

"It's not the training but…" Jiren was struggling to form his sentences properly. "When we aren't training, she sometimes gets nervous around me."

"That's odd…" Toppo rubbed his head in thought. "Cocotte never gets nervous around anyone."

"And yesterday she tried to tell me something but she chickened out and said it was nothing." Jiren responded. "But she isn't telling me the truth. I know something is wrong. And though I don't know the reason why she's acting strangely, I know that the reason has to do with... me."

A thought was beginning to pop up in Toppo's head. He didn't think it'd be possible but it was starting to make a little sense considering what Jiren just told him.

_'Does Cocotte have__… __actual feelings towards Jiren? If that's the case, it could explain why she's been acting nervous around him. Maybe she doesn't know how to express her feelings. But... does Jiren feel the same way?'_

Toppo began to think. He had to approach this carefully and find out if Jiren has the same feelings towards Cocotte.

"Jiren," Toppo spoke up.

"Yes?" Jiren responded.

"How do you feel when you're around Cocotte?" Toppo asked. He didn't want to outright say that Cocotte _liked him_ in case it turned out to be false.

That question threw Jiren off guard. How did he feel around Cocotte? The way he felt about Cocotte was different from his relationships with the other Pride Troopers. For one thing, they spent the most time together. And he felt like she could relate with him much better. But then, his mind went to the strange feelings which he now developed for the female Pride Trooper as he realized that those feelings were feelings beyond friendship. He knew he had fallen for her in such a short amount of time.

Jiren could remember a few times they were in intimate positions. The one time Cocotte was in his house and she put her hand on his and when he carried her to the couch, he remembered how she had rested her head on his chest. He also recalled how they had hugged each other a few times. Thinking about his female comrade secretly made him feel... ecstatic.

The Pride Trooper understood it deep down. He liked Cocotte as more than a friend. He just never showed it.

"_You two definitely look like you could be more than friends.__"_

Those were the words of the female individual at the bowling arena. And now that Jiren thought of it, he realized it could be true.

"I feel as though my relationship with Cocotte is much different than with the others. I've spent more time with her and as time went on, I started having these… feelings towards her. Feelings beyond friendship," Jiren responded. He proceeded to tell Toppo about the times they had spent together, including taking her to his house.

"I just didn't think I'd fall for her in such a short period of time."

Toppo listened to Jiren and he was in a state of shock. He was right; Jiren actually felt the same way about Cocotte. And having known his friend for a long time, Toppo could tell he was being sincere with his feelings.

"Jiren… I think the reason why Cocotte has been acting nervous around you is because she feels the same way about you too."

Now THAT had Jiren reeling from shock. Cocotte _liked him!? _That explained a lot. But deep down, the feeling he had now was… happiness. He didn't want to rush into this either.

At first, he had wondered why Cocotte wasn't telling him anything. But now, everything made sense.

"Cocotte doesn't know how to express her feelings towards me," Jiren began to speak and Toppo nodded as that was exactly what he was thinking. "Maybe she's afraid of ruining our friendship."

Toppo agreed with his friend. "Jiren, if you like Cocotte, maybe you should tell her."

"I can't rush into this." Jiren responded. "In case it's not true."

Toppo's instinct told him it was real.

"When are you seeing Cocotte again?" the God of Destruction candidate asked.

"Tomorrow. We're going to be training," Jiren answered while looking at Toppo.

Toppo shrugged his shoulders. "Perhaps you should talk to Cocotte tomorrow?"

"Tomorrow sounds like a good idea," Jiren mused in thought.

Toppo smacked his head, causing Jiren to look at him in confusion.

"What's wrong?"

"What kind of person am I!? I didn't offer you a glass of water!"

"Toppo. I'm fine. Don't worry about-" Jiren didn't get to finish his sentence as Toppo sped off to his kitchen to get a glass of water for him.

Jiren slightly chuckled at Toppo's actions.

Toppo returned shortly holding a glass of water in one hand. He handed it to Jiren, who took it and drank it all in one gulp.

"Do you want more?" He asked.

Jiren held his hand out in front of Toppo to prevent him from rushing off again. "I'm fine."

Toppo sat back down on the couch and looked at his friend.

"So, how's your training going?" Jiren asked to change the subject.

"It's going very well," Toppo responded. It was true for the most part. He felt tempted to tell Jiren about Belmod's words but decided to have mercy on the God of Destruction.

"That's good to hear," Jiren answered. "It's best I get going."

Getting up from the couch and Toppo following suit, the Pride Troopers made it to the front door. Once Jiren was outside, he was about to take off into the sky but Toppo stopped him.

"Jiren?"

Jiren turned back to look at Toppo. "Yes?"

"Good luck."

Jiren gave Toppo a confused look until he realized what his friend was talking about. "Thank you."

"My mouth is sealed about this."

That brought a smile to Jiren's face.

After they separated, Jiren took off to his house.

Toppo watched as Jiren left. He was sure hoping that he and Cocotte would work things out and soon enough…

They could become a couple.

The moustached man smiled at the thought. _'I do hope they get together.'_

_**At Cocotte's house**__**…**_

Cocotte had just arrived at her home. She wanted to shower again and change into more comfortable clothes before she went to see Jiren at his house. Yup, she was going to Jiren's house. She didn't want to hold her feelings for much longer. Something had just occurred to her, though. Was Jiren in his house right now? It wouldn't hurt to go and check.

After taking another shower, Cocotte changed into baggy pants and a sweater since it was cold outside. After putting on her footwear, she stepped outside.

She wasn't going to use any of the methods Cassandra gave her but she was going to straight up tell Jiren. This time, she felt confident enough to tell him face to face.

With a smile on her face, she was soon on her way to Jiren's house.

_**At Jiren's **__**r**__**esidence...**_

Jiren was sitting in a meditating position after his visit with Toppo. He had to say that he was sure lucky to have Toppo as a friend. The Pride Trooper wasn't quite sure what he would do if he hadn't talked to him about this. But his mind was much clearer now as he now knew what was bothering Cocotte.

Would they continue to be friends? Or would they be something more?

That question was going to be answered sooner than Jiren thought as he now sensed Cocotte's ki approaching his location.

_'Cocotte is here? But why so soon?'_

Jiren was in shock as he had originally assumed that he was going to be seeing Cocotte tomorrow. Not today.

Moving himself from his position, Jiren walked to the door and opened it for Cocotte.

Cocotte smiled at the Pride Trooper when she saw him. "Hey Jiren. There's something I'd like to tell you. Can I come in?"

"Sure."

Jiren stepped aside to allow room for Cocotte to enter. He shut the door again and looked at her.

"Have a seat."

Cocotte sat down on a comfortable leather chair in the living area. Jiren sat down opposite her.

"What did you want to speak with me about?"

"This is something I've wanted to tell you about ever since we started training." Cocotte spoke slowly. "Whenever we spend time together outside of training, I feel different around you than when I'm with the others. At first, I didn't really understand my feelings but then I realized that what I was feeling towards you was something different from friendship. More than friendship. I guess what I'm trying to tell you is that I _like_ you Jiren. The thought of you and me being together is what's been nagging at me this entire time. I went to see a friend who helped me set my mind straight. I was afraid of telling you before because I thought it would ruin our friendship. But listen, if you don't feel the same way, I understand. I just wanted to let you know how I felt. I'm sorry if I've wasted your time."

Cocotte proceeded to walk to the door and open it but she was stopped from doing so. She turned and saw that Jiren had grabbed her hand and carefully guided her back to the couch.

He noticed that Cocotte was avoiding his gaze, most likely because she thought he was going to say something she didn't want to hear.

"Cocotte… look at me."

At the soft tone in his voice, she turned around to face him. Jiren had taken one of her hands in his and was looking at her with a gentle, yet serious expression.

"I'd admit I'd felt somewhat different around you lately. Aside from Toppo, you've been one of my closest friends and I wouldn't know what to do if that ever came to an end. But in the short time that we've spent together, my feelings towards you have grown. You mean a lot to me Cocotte. In other words, I like you as more than a friend and of course I'd want to take things to the next level if it's okay with you."

Cocotte's eyes brimmed with tears of joy. She gave him a nod. "J-Jiren…"

She wasn't given the chance to respond as Jiren moved closer and kissed her on the lips. Cocotte was in a state of shock but quickly responded to the kiss. She moved her hands until they were around Jiren's neck while Jiren's hands were on her waists.

Jiren and Cocotte looked into each other's eyes.

Though they weren't saying anything at the moment, they could both tell what the other one was thinking.

"Are you all right?" Jiren asked her while using his thumb to brush away her tears.

"No…" Cocotte responded and went in for another kiss.

Jiren placed his arm around Cocotte and she scooted closer, placing her head on his shoulder.

"Cocotte…" Jiren couldn't help but wonder. "What made you think our friendship would have been ruined?"

The pink headed Pride Trooper looked up at Jiren and said, "I don't know. I guess it's just a thought I had."

He gave her a small kiss on the forehead. "It didn't happen. I wouldn't think any differently of you now."

The two stayed in silence for a few minutes.

"What are we going to tell the others?" Cocotte asked.

Jiren looked at her and snorted. "I'd rather not. At least not while this is just the beginning for _us_."

Cocotte mused on this thought for a while. "That makes sense. We wouldn't want to hear any perverted thoughts from anyone, especially Belmod."

"I wonder if he's said anything else since then…" Jiren mused.

"If he says anything else, his ass is going to get kicked a thousand times."

They were in silence for a few minutes.

"What do you want to do now?" Jiren asked.

"Let's cook something up!" Cocotte suggested.

Jiren gave her a strange look. "It's still morning, and you're thinking of food?"

Cocotte gave him a playful smirk. "Come on… unless you really really suck at cooking?"

"I don't suck."

"Why don't you show me right now?"

"Sure, I will."

Jiren smiled at Cocotte's retreating form. Cocotte could surely be weird sometimes. But he wouldn't have it any other way.

"Come on! Let's go!"

"Cocotte, be patient," Jiren called as he went after her.

_**Later in the evening**__**…**_

Jiren and Cocotte sat on the balcony after he and Cocotte spent hours in the kitchen cooking up different recipes. They smiled at each other remembering the earlier events. The two of them were arguing with each other on how to use certain ingredients but they had eventually reached a conclusion and they were both satisfied with what they had come up with so far as they had celebrated their success with a kiss.

Cocotte really liked the view of this balcony. It was almost as if she could see the entirety of Netfiss and it's bright lights. She began to feel sleepy as the longer she kept her eyes open, the more she was beginning to feel her eyes close. But the pink haired Pride Trooper was fighting to keep her eyes open.

She looked over to Jiren. Cocotte hadn't dated another person since… Thomas. But she knew in her heart that Jiren was the right person for her. She knew he loved her sincerely.

Without thinking, she placed her hand on top of Jiren's. Feeling Cocotte's hand on his, Jiren turned around to look at his lover/girlfriend and smiled at her. He tucked a strand of her hair behind her ear.

"You're looking tired already," Jiren commented while placing his hand on Cocotte's arm.

Cocotte felt her eyes open. "No Jiren. I'm fine."

"You opened your eyes right now."

Cocotte sighed. She didn't know what to say to that.

"What do you want to do tomorrow after training?" Cocotte asked. She couldn't help but stifle a yawn.

Jiren responded with a shrug of his shoulders. Until an idea hit him. It made sense to him given their new found relationship.

"Since we're dating now…" Jiren mused. "How would you like to go on a date with me tomorrow after training? It _is_ the first step to getting used to being boyfriend and girlfriend."

Cocotte gave Jiren a smile. "Of course I would love to go out with you." At first Jiren thought he could see tears prickling at the corners of Cocotte's eyes but he could tell that she was fighting it back. "I thought I was going to be the one to ask."

The strongest Pride Trooper took notice of how tired his girlfriend looked. He gently placed a hand on her arm, causing her to look at him. Cocotte could see that Jiren was concerned about her.

"You should go home and get some rest. It looks like you can't keep your eyes open for much longer."

Cocotte smiled at the contact, stood up and stretched her body. "You're right though." She gave Jiren a slightly serious look. "Hey, do you mind if I say something?"

Jiren stood up from his chair to give Cocotte his full attention. "Yes?"

"You know, I hadn't dated anyone since that jerk… Thomas. But deep down, I know that you're the right one for me. I definitely don't regret this at all." Cocotte said as she moved closer to Jiren.

Jiren nodded as he had recalled Cocotte mentioning _his_ name. Stopping Cocotte in her tracks with a hand on her shoulder, he gave her a soft smile.

"Cocotte, I think this is going to work out. And now that I think about it, having _you_ in my life is going to make it all the better for me. It's what I needed all along." He said while smiling brightly.

The female Pride Trooper thought she was going to cry again. But she managed to hold it all back.

The only thing she could say was, "J-Jiren…"

Jiren unconsciously moved his hand to place on her cheek. She responded by placing her hand on his wrist. In one swift motion, he kissed her with such a delicacy and a strong passion. Cocotte was very quick to respond as she placed a hand on Jiren's chest.

When they broke apart, all they could do was stare into each other's eyes.

"We can both make this work out," Jiren said while looking at Cocotte. He placed a hand on her shoulder and squeezed it gently.

"I believe so too."

"Go get some rest for tomorrow, okay?" Jiren told Cocotte while once again addressing her with that soft and gentle tone of his.

"All right."

They shared a quick kiss before Cocotte headed out the door.

As Cocotte headed out the door, Jiren was determined to treat her right as his girlfriend. The Pride Trooper made a mental note to tell Toppo the news later. He gave a smile, knowing that things were going to change for the better. Cocotte had stepped into his life and he knew he had found what he was _missing_ this entire time.

_**At Cocotte's house**__**…**_

Cocotte laid on her bed. The only emotion she felt was happiness. Before all this, she had wondered how being in a relationship with Jiren was going to change things between them. But now, they were actually together. If there was one thought on her mind, it was that she would do everything she could to make sure that their relationship worked out.

She knew she definitely had to tell Cassandra the news because she was the one who had pushed her to confess her feelings to Jiren. Cocotte didn't know what she would have done if her friend hadn't come along. _"__Another woman could take him away from you__."_ That was what had motivated her to finally confess. She was truly grateful for her friend's words.

_'I owe you one Cassandra.' _

As she changed into her nightgown, she could be positive about one thing...

Tomorrow would yield fruitful results between her and Jiren.

Chapter 7: END

**Author's Note:**** I finally did it! This is just the beginning of Jiren and Cocotte's relationship. I hope you guys liked it. Don't forget to leave a comment. If there was something you did or didn't like, leave a comment and I'll address you.**


	8. Chapter 8: First Date

Chapter 8: First Date

Disclaimer: I don't own Dragon Ball Super or any other character in the story. Everything belongs to Toei and Akira Toriyama except for the plot. I only take credit for the plot and the OCs.

_**In the morning...**_

Cocotte had just fully prepared herself for her training as she was fully clad in her Pride Trooper uniform. She had just finished breakfast and was ready to head out the door. Yesterday's events were still playing in her mind, and it was like she was having butterflies in her stomach. The female Pride Trooper had called her friend Cassandra yesterday evening and told her the news. She had to cover her ears as her friend sure did have a loud voice.

_**Flashback...**_

_Cocotte had just dialed her friend Cassandra's number and waited for her to pick up. As soon as she did, she heard her voice being called. "Cocotte?"_

_"Yes, Cassandra. It's me. I thought I might call you and give you the news of what happened."_

_"Well? What happened? Don't keep me in suspense."_

_A smile crept upon Cocotte's face as she knew that the news she was about to tell her friend was going to have her jumping for joy._

_"It worked out! We're finally together!" Cocotte exclaimed in a happy voice. "I didn't need those stupid tips you gave me yesterday! It took a lot of courage, but I was finally able to tell Jiren how I felt."_

_The pink-haired Pride Trooper had to cover her ears as Cassandra sure did have a shrill voice._

_"See? What was so hard about it!?"_

_Cocotte was pretty sure that if she was with her friend right now, she would have been seeing her jump for joy._

_"I was worried about nothing. I guess I have you to thank. You pushed me in the right direction. Your other tips were useless." Cassandra thought she sensed a bit of pride in Cocotte's voice._

_"Hey! Don't you dare call my tips useless! They've worked for almost everyone!"_

_"I'm sure they did!" Cocotte teased. She sometimes thought it was funny to get on her friend's nerves._

_"What's that supposed to mean!? Are you trying to tell me-"_

_"Never mind. But I owe you one, Cassandra. I'll pay you back someday. I don't know how yet, but I promise you. I will."_

_"I know you will. Enjoy your relationship to the fullest. Anyway, I've got to get to sleep right now!"_

_"Me too. It's kinda late, isn't it? Anyway, bye!"_

_After Cocotte bid her friend goodbye, she hung up her phone and drifted off to sleep. There was nothing else on her mind except where her relationship with Jiren was going to lead them._

_**End of flashback...**_

After recalling the events that occurred yesterday, Cocotte felt _very_ satisfied with herself. Satisfied with the fact that she had gone from being friends with Jiren to being in an actual relationship with him.

The daydreaming Pride Trooper was distracted from her thoughts when she heard the beeping of her wristwatch. She took a quick look at it and knew that it was time to go and meet Jiren for their training.

After making sure that everything was in order, she left her house.

_**At the main headquarters on Planet Netfiss...**_

As Jiren was waiting for Cocotte, his mind was reflecting on the exchange of events that happened yesterday. Cocotte. Not only was she his trainee but she was also his... girlfriend. All of this was like a jigsaw puzzle to him. He had to scramble to find all the missing pieces before time ran out.

But now he realized Cocotte was the missing piece in his life. She brought a sense of joy that he had never felt throughout his childhood. Their universe wasn't under attack right now. He could live life right now in peace and harmony.

His thoughts were interrupted when he heard a female voice call his name. "Jiren!"

"Cocotte? You're here?"

Jiren turned to fully face her. She looked determined... ready to face what lied ahead in their training.

Both Pride Troopers began to get closer to each other. Instead of their usual good morning greetings, they shared a hot, passionate kiss which lasted for a few minutes.

Jiren's hand was on Cocotte's face as he stroked it gently. And one of Cocotte's hands was draped around Jiren's neck.

"Are you ready for training today?" Jiren asked while giving her a gentle smile.

"Of course. Whatever you dish out, I'll throw it right back at you!" she responded with a cocky tone in her voice.

They released themselves from the intimate position they were in and the two Pride Troopers looked like they were ready for business.

"Take my hand and let's go!" Jiren commanded.

Cocotte did as she was told and the couple were gone in a flash, off to the training grounds.

_**Several hours later...**_

Cocotte was panting and she was almost out of breath. But she could tell that learning these techniques today was having less of an impact on her body as it did before. She was brought to her knees by the sheer force of the Counter Impact.

Jiren stood back while watching the trainee in the process. He was clearly impressed as she was now beginning to master these techniques. The muscular Pride Trooper was beginning to see that Cocotte didn't look as exhausted as when she tried them the first time. At first, he was almost skeptical about teaching her but now he didn't regret it. Cocotte could wield these techniques to their full potential when she was in an actual fight.

A wide smile made its way on his face, unbeknownst to the Pride Trooper in front of him.

"Jiren, I'm going to try my hands on the Power Impact again!" the pink-haired Pride Trooper called to him.

"Go ahead!" he shouted back.

Jiren could see that Cocotte was going to cycle through every one of these techniques and master them to their full potential, even if she was almost out of breath. That was one of the things he _loved_ about Cocotte; once her heart was set on doing something, there was almost no stopping her. She wanted to be at her very best in their training.

Jiren was brought back to reality when he heard the sound of an intense explosion. He focused his eyes towards the source of the noise and saw that Cocotte had just fired off a Power Impact at a giant boulder, which had exploded until there was nothing left of it.

The male Pride Trooper looked on in approval. "I can see that you're starting to get a hang of these techniques. You should try not to use so much energy in order not to tire yourself out too quickly in a fight. But your performance today is definitely much better than the last time. Well done, Cocotte. I'm impressed."

Cocotte felt a surge of pride flow through her when Jiren _just _complimented her. She was going to _keep going. _And once again, a tinge of red could be seen on her cheeks. Cocotte almost thought of turning away from Jiren in order to hide the blush on her face. But then she realized that there was no point in doing so anymore since she and Jiren were _together_ now. She most definitely wasn't going to be hiding things from him anymore. She was going to tell him everything on her mind as she knew that he was going to be there for her through every step in their relationship.

The trainee smiled back. "Thanks. Your words of encouragement keep me going."

Jiren simply smiled and watched as Cocotte put her attention back on the training. She began to gather energy in both of her hands and put them together. An indication that she was about to use the Colossal Slash.

Once Cocotte fired off the technique, a powerful breeze was quickly felt by the two of them. Almost immediately, a massive explosion could be heard.

Cocotte used her arms to cover her eyes while Jiren just stood there as he knew that this wasn't even going to hurt him.

After the explosion died down, both Jiren and Cocotte could see burns in the ground. A random smirk appeared on Jiren's face for no apparent reason. His student definitely knew how to do a lot of damage.

When Cocotte saw the bits of damage she did, she scratched her head while turning to face Jiren. "I guess I overdid it back there, didn't I?"

Jiren responded. "Don't let it stop you from trying the rest. But I have to say, you definitely know how to do a lot of damage."

Cocotte gave Jiren a weird look as she didn't really understand what he meant by that last bit.

The pink-haired Pride Trooper could simply give a nod in response. She began to prepare herself for the next technique she was going to use.

_'Here goes.'_

All Jiren could do was watch in silence as Cocotte began to cycle through every one of the techniques that he taught her, one explosion after the other.

_**Half an hour later...**_

Jiren looked at Cocotte's battered form. Not as battered as he thought she would be. He placed a hand gently on Cocotte's shoulder.

"See? Today's training wasn't so bad." Cocotte was trying to shrug this off as it wasn't a big deal, but Jiren wasn't going to allow himself to be fooled.

"True, but you're definitely battered up. Go take a shower and then we can go do something together if you're feeling up to it," Jiren said. He wasn't going to allow Cocotte to go anywhere in that state.

He moved closer to Cocotte, placed a hand behind her head, and gave her a kiss on the forehead.

"I'll see you later, then," Cocotte said, shocked by the display of affection Jiren just showed. She didn't realize that her hand was in his.

"Take it easy, okay?"

Cocotte gave Jiren a soft smile. "I won't."

After talking about their plans for later in the day and saying their goodbyes, Jiren and Cocotte went off in separate directions.

_**In Cocotte's bedroom...**_

Cocotte was ready to step in the shower after removing her tattered Pride Trooper uniform. She thought of all the places she and Jiren were going to go. Being alone... with _him_.

As the water coursed through her body, she began to feel less stressed. A few minutes later, she stepped out feeling refreshed. She had a towel around her dripping wet hair and another one around her exposed body.

Cocotte sat on her bed while still having the towel covering her body. She was still thinking about the way Jiren kissed her after their training, and how he prompted her to get her rest. He really did care about her and she didn't want anything else to change that.

Cocotte proceeded to pick out clothes to wear for the time being. She may have showered but her body still felt sore in some areas. After she was fully clothed, she lay down on the bed.

What was also on Cocotte's mind was how they were going to tell the others about her relationship with Jiren. She wasn't sure if they would share any perverted thoughts or if they'd just bombard them with questions. How would the deities react? She knew that Khai was more reserved and quiet so he would act more mature. Marcarita would probably be the same way. And Belmod...

She felt a little bit of growing anger and embarrassment at the thought of Belmod's reaction. While Cocotte was aware that she shouldn't be angry at the God of Destruction for too long, the thought of what he'd say at the discovery of their relationship was what put her on the edge.

But right now she wasn't going to be concerned about it. Both she and Jiren were getting accustomed to being boyfriend and girlfriend. The time would come for them to tell everybody. But now wasn't that time.

A smile found its way onto Cocotte's face. She and Jiren were an item now, but she somehow couldn't help but wonder how things would be if they got mar-

_'WHY AM I THINKING LIKE THIS!? I should be resting, not daydreaming!'_

Cocotte set her alarm clock to a specific time so she could wake up early and meet with Jiren later. She closed her eyes as an attempt to shake these _thoughts_ out of her head.

As the Pride Trooper closed her eyes, sleepiness overcame her.

_**Elsewhere, early in the morning...**_

Jiren was staring up at the sky. He wasn't meditating, but rather, he was laying on the grass with his arms behind his head and one of his knees propped up in relaxation. Not with one of his usual expressions, but a happy and contented smile. And it was because of Cocotte. The female Pride Trooper was the only person who could make him feel this way. With her now being his girlfriend, he only knew that this was just the beginning for him.

Since the Tournament of Power, things had really turned around for Jiren. His views on friendship had changed entirely. And then he started training with Cocotte and in a short span of time, they had gone from being friends to something more. The strongest Pride Trooper knew that this was what was making him happy and content right now. He had no other motives other than making sure that the two of them were happy in their relationship.

Jiren had to thank Toppo for his words or he wouldn't be entirely sure that he'd have entered this new relationship with Cocotte. He didn't have any idea until he spoke to his friend. He thought he was the only one who was having these feelings towards his female comrade.

And thinking about yesterday and the display of affection he showed towards Cocotte... it just made him realize just how much he cared about Cocotte. It still surprised him that she had this effect on him.

And they were going to go on a date today. Just the two of them.

He stared at his watch for a split second. He still had enough time before he was to meet again with Cocotte. He couldn't wait to see her again.

Jiren knew there was no need to rush. He still had plenty of time to himself and plenty of time to see where his relationship with Cocotte was going to lead him in the future.

_**Later on, at Cocotte's house...**_

Cocotte groaned after she heard the sound of her alarm clock. She wanted to sleep in but she remembered that she was going on a date with Jiren. Now her body didn't feel sore anymore.

The pink-haired Pride Trooper moved towards the dresser drawer to rummage through what she was going to wear.

_'What should I wear? What should I wear?'_

After looking through her set of clothes, Cocotte finally decided on a attractive blue shirt and and jeans shorts. When she wore it, the blue shirt was barely above her belly button and the shorts stopped a little bit above her knees.

After spending a few minutes in front of her mirror admiring herself, Cocotte was convinced she was all done. _'I definitely dressed well today.'_ But was Jiren ready?

She still had a little time left before she had to go and meet Jiren. But what should she do to pass the time?

Cocotte's eyes lit up as she had just come up with something to do before then. With a smile on her face, her feet trotted towards the kitchen with a perfect plan in her head.

_**At Jiren's house...**_

The Gray had just showered and put on casual clothing. He smiled as he thought of the things he would be doing with his girlfriend Cocotte. They were going to be spending time together. _Alone._

Jiren had just gotten something as a present for Cocotte. But he wanted that to wait until their date was almost over. The Pride Trooper stared at what he had gotten for Cocotte shortly after he had ended their training session from yesterday. He smiled as he had faith that all of this would end well.

He assumed that Cocotte would be waiting for him, so he decided to message her and let her know where they would meet.

Jiren was about to do so when he sensed her energy approaching his location. Well, there goes _that._

The female Pride Trooper had seen that the door was slightly ajar and peeked in. "Jiren?" She moved back when the silhouette of Jiren came into view. He seemed happy to see her and she felt the same way too.

Jiren's voice broke the brief silence. "You're here already. I was just about to message you so we can meet up somewhere," he said.

"Well, I'm already here."

Jiren decided to move outside to get a full view of Cocotte. When he did so, he was stunned. The sight of her was... breathtaking. She looked really beautiful with her attire and her long, flowing pink hair.

He also took notice of the fact that Cocotte was holding something in a white plastic bag. Not only that, but there was the scent of... food?

Cocotte hugged Jiren with him returning the gesture. When they broke apart, she raised the hand which was holding the plastic bag.

"I got this for you. I hope you like it."

Jiren took the bag from her hands. "Whatever is inside definitely smells appetizing. But I think I'll wait until later."

Cocotte wrapped an arm around Jiren's waist. "Whatever suits you." She then whispered in his ear, "But you better like it."

Jiren turned to give her a smirk. "What's there not to like?"

Cocotte slightly blushed at Jiren's words. Jiren seemed to take notice of the effect his words had on Cocotte.

"I know of some nice scenery here on Planet Netfiss. We should take a nice walk around and enjoy the peaceful atmosphere," Jiren suggested. He turned to Cocotte, expecting her to give an answer.

"That's a lovely idea. It's an opportunity for me to see some of the areas here. I know you've probably seen almost everything since you move around place to place to find a spot for meditation," Cocotte responded with an enthusiastic voice.

Jiren gave her a smile as he answered. "You're right about that one."

Cocotte intertwined her hands with Jiren's. "Let's get moving, shall we?"

_**On Planet Daldon...**_

The two Pride Troopers had just arrived on another planet. It was more familiar to Jiren than it was to Cocotte. Jiren looked on in recognition though he hadn't been on this planet in a very long time. Cocotte simply looked in awe at the sight before her.

It appeared that they were in a forest of some kind, filled with abundant vegetation and flowers. The sounds of different wildlife could be heard. What really caught Cocotte's attention was the sound of rushing water. She turned her eyes towards the source and when she did, she was struck by the beauty of it all. There was the sight of a large waterfall.

How had Cocotte not seen this before? The sight before her was just... amazing.

Jiren turned to look at his companion and said, "Cocotte... this is Planet Daldon."

"It's... It's beautiful," Cocotte responded, her eyes still struck by the magnificent beauty. "I can't believe I haven't seen this before."

It wasn't that Cocotte hadn't heard of Planet Daldon before. It was just that she hadn't seen some of the places before and seeing it for the first time had her eyes drool all over. She vaguely remembered Dyspo telling her about the time that he, Toppo, and Kahseral had stopped an invasion by a Dorakyian here a while back.

Jiren smiled at her. "You're seeing it now. I remember stumbling upon it some time ago. But so much has changed, so it's different now than it was before."

"Let's take a walk. I've got to see the rest of this planet," Cocotte said. Then out of nowhere, she planted a kiss on Jiren's cheek. He responded by bringing Cocotte closer to him, allowing her head to rest on his chest and giving her a kiss on the head.

There was no need for words here. They both knew how they felt at this moment.

They continued to explore the planet, hand in hand. And at some point, a bird flew over to the duo. Neither of them noticed it until it perched itself on Cocotte's shoulder.

"...Huh?" Cocotte turned around to notice the bird resting on her shoulder. She looked confused at first and then she smiled.

Raising a hand, the female Pride Trooper touched the bird softly.

"It seems the bird has gotten attached to you." Jiren commented as he watched the interaction. And then unexpectedly, the bird made its way towards Jiren.

Jiren wasted no time in petting the small animal.

"Doesn't it look cute?" Cocotte asked in adoration.

"Of course it does," Jiren answered.

The two of them watched as the bird flew away and back to it's nest. They continued on their walk, with Cocotte occasionally pointing out something to Jiren from mountains to building, him agreeing with his girlfriend and the two of them displaying affection.

The two of them soon found themselves on a large boulder, looking up at the sky. This has become one of Cocotte's favorite things to do ever since she started dating Jiren. She was relaxing her head on Jiren's shoulder, and the male Pride Trooper didn't mind one bit.

"Are you enjoying yourself so far?" Jiren asked his girlfriend who was resting in his embrace.

"Of course I am! Nothing beats... being with you," she answered in a dreamy voice.

Jiren placed a hand on Cocotte's. "I'm glad you think so." And then something had just occurred to him. "Planet Daldon also has a city here. Do you want to check it out?"

Cocotte looked up at Jiren. "Of course I do! Let's go!"

Removing herself from her current position, she looked down at Jiren, who couldn't help but chuckle at Cocotte before standing up.

"They have really nice tourist attractions here." Jiren commented.

"After what I've just seen, I believe you."

They were gone in a flash.

_**In the city on Planet Daldon...**_

The duo arrived in what looked like a high-class city. The neon lights illuminated everything in sight. From shops, to houses, to tourist attractions. The first thing the two of them could see was many inhabitants bustling about, minding their own business and going about their day without a care in the world.

"Wow..." Cocotte said in awe. "T-This is beautiful. I wish I could have seen all of this before."

Jiren smiled at his girlfriend; he knew that she would _really_ like it here on Planet Daldon. He began to speak, "Where would you like to start?"

"Let's take a walk and see what's around here first."

Putting arms around each other's waists, the duo began their tour of Planet Daldon.

_**Several hours later...**_

The two Pride Troopers were walking hand in hand. At some point during their walk, Cocotte had disengaged herself from Jiren and began taking pictures with her camera of the tourist attraction places. There was definitely a lot to see here.

"I have to hand it to you, Jiren. Planet Daldon is nicer than most of the places I've been to," Cocotte stated in a dreamy voice. Jiren just chuckled at her expression.

"I knew you'd like it here. You must have taken a million pictures already."

They could smell the whiff of the food from the plastic bag Jiren was holding in his hand.

Cocotte pointed at the bag. "You know, you should eat that."

"You're wrong."

Cocotte looked at Jiren in confusion.

"_We _should eat it... together."

Cocotte could hardly form her sentences properly. But nonetheless she gave Jiren a heartwarming smile. "Y-You w-want t-to..."

"Yes. I'm not doing it without you. What do you say to that?" Jiren gave her a soft smile, knowing what her response was going to be.

"I couldn't have it any other way." She said while once again bringing herself closer to Jiren. It was a position Jiren really liked, because having her by his side made him relax.

_**At a zoo...**_

At some point during their date, something had caught Cocotte's eye. She turned to look at Jiren, who realized she was staring at him and he returned her gaze and asked, "Something caught your eye?"

"What do you say we check out that zoo?" Cocotte asked, pointing to where she just saw the zoo and Jiren looking to where she pointed.

"I'm up for it."

Hand in hand, the two of them made their way to the zoo.

What they had just seen at the entrance was intriguing. Though it was mainly looked like a forest, the duo could see cages with animals of different species. There were people who the couple assumed were the employees who worked there, were feeding the animals while at the same time being careful not to get too close in order not to get bitten. Other individuals could also be seen.

Cocotte was snapping pictures of the animals. She was glad that she was seeing all of this.

A strange noise could be heard. Both Jiren and Cocotte -turned around and could see a large giraffe. They approached it and much to Cocotte's surprise, Jiren moved his hand towards the large animal and petted it.

The Pride Trooper couldn't help but give a smile at the exchange between Jiren and the giraffe. Jiren... not only did he show such care for the people in Universe 11, but other living beings. Cocotte knew in this instance, she was lucky to have someone like Jiren who showed such great care.

Shaking herself out of her thoughts, she stood next to Jiren and took her turn.

There was nothing else besides laughter as Jiren and Cocotte moved from animal to animal, enjoying the atmosphere around them.

_**Later that evening...**_

"That was fun..." Cocotte sighed dreamily as she and Jiren walked side by side. "I'm never going to forget this."

Jiren was holding pictures that he and Cocotte had taken during the day and it warmed his heart just looking at them. He unconsciously moved his arm and placed it around Cocotte. She responded by moving herself closer to Jiren.

"Thanks," Cocotte murmured.

Jiren looked at her with a confused expression. "For what?"

"For bringing me to Planet Daldon. I really had a great time."

"Cocotte, there's nothing to thank me for. Spending time with you..." Jiren paused for a moment to think of his next words. "...is what really makes me happy."

Cocotte looked up at Jiren. She loved the fact that he cared so much about her. Positionng herself properly, she gave Jiren a hug. He wrapped his arms around Cocotte's petite form in response.

Cocotte released Jiren and asked, "Are you ready to go back home?"

Jiren opened his mouth as he was about to answer Cocotte's question but then he remembered that he had gotten a gift for her which was at his house. So...

"Not yet. Before we end things for today, why don't we watch a movie at my house?"

"Sure! I'm up for it." Cocotte said in an enthusiastic voice. The couple looked at each other for a few moments before Jiren slowly grabbed hold of his girlfriend's hand and pulled her closer to him. She was surprised by this action of his. Before she could question it, he caught her lips in a strong, passionate kiss.

The petite woman soon found herself melting into the kiss as she wrapped her arms around Jiren's neck. She could feel Jiren putting his hands on her waists as their moment was becoming more passionate.

The kiss lasted for a few more minutes before they pulled away. There was silence before Jiren gave his girlfriend a smile and said, "Let's get going."

"Let's do that. I can't wait to be at your house!" Cocotte squealed.

Jiren wrapped an arm around Cocotte which she accepted. She smiled at him. He most definitely knew how to surprise her in ways she wouldn't expect. That was what he loved most about him.

With their arms securely around each other, the couple disappeared in a flash.

_**At Jiren's place of residence...**_

The two Pride Troopers had just dropped down on their own two feet as they had just arrived at Jiren's house. Neither of them looked like they were tired and still had a lot of energy.

Jiren opened the door and motioned for Cocotte to enter. She stepped inside and when she did, she felt a coolness overcome her. The pink-haired woman waited for Jiren to step inside and close the door.

The aroma of food wafted through their noses.

"Jiren, why don't we eat and then we can pick a movie to watch afterwards?" Cocotte suggested to Jiren, who was looking through a shelf. "Where did you even get all of these CD's from, anyway?"

Jiren had just finished picking out a movie as he was holding the case in his hand. "I'm done. Toppo gave these to me a while back but I never had the chance to watch them."

"Wow..." Cocotte mused as she looked through the wooden shelf containing CD cases. "That's amazing..."

"Are you ready, Cocotte?"

Jiren's voice brought Cocotte's attention back. She noticed that Jiren was seated on the couch and immediately joined him.

Cocotte grabbed the food container from the plastic bag and opened it. There were two utensils inside. She took the first bite and said to Jiren, "Why don't you try it?"

Jiren did as he was told. Cocotte watched as he chewed the food. When he was done with the first bite, he turned to face Cocotte and said, "This is really great. When did you learn to cook like that?"

Cocotte shrugged. "I live by myself, so it's not hard to learn." She peered at the movie case Jiren was holding. "...we're watching a horror movie?"

"Yes. Do you have a problem with that?"

Cocotte rapidly shook her head in response. "No! No! I was just curious that's all!"

Jiren nodded his head and walked towards the DVD player and placed the CD inside. He then turned on the television. When it turned on, he went back to sit with Cocotte.

The two of them were eating as they were watching the movie. At some point during the movie, Cocotte shuddered and moved closer towards Jiren, who raised an eyebrow at her but didn't say anything in response. Not until Cocotte let out a high pitched shriek.

"EEEEEEKKKKKK!" she shrieked in response. Jiren turned his head to look at her. "Seriously, Cocotte?"

"I'm sorry," was her response. "I guess that scene freaked me out." She started to shudder.

Jiren placed a hand around Cocotte, who was beginning to feel relaxed from Jiren's touch.

When the movie was coming to an end, Cocotte could feel her eyelids fluttering. She was fighting hard to stay awake but she couldn't. Her eyes shut completely and her head unconsciously rested on Jiren's shoulder. When he looked at Cocotte's peaceful form, he didn't mind and decided to watch the rest of the movie by himself.

As soon as it was over, he took the CD out of the player, placed it back on the shelf and turned off the TV while being careful not to wake up Cocotte. For a minute, he looked at Cocotte's sleeping form. She looked so peaceful that he didn't want to wake her up. What should he do?

An idea popped up in his head. He carefully scooped the sleeping Cocotte in his arms and quietly made his way towards a spare bedroom. Once he was there, he carefully laid Cocotte on the bed. He grabbed a blanket and covered her with it.

Jiren looked at his girlfriend for a few minutes. He left the room afterwards as he decided to wait for her to wake up before deciding on his next course of action.

_**Later that evening...**_

Cocotte's eyes began to slowly open. Everywhere around her was dark except for the moonlight sifting through the window. She looked around her, trying to figure out where she was. This room didn't look familiar to her at all. When the fully awake Pride Trooper sat up, she noticed the blanket that was covering her and she began to frown. _'Where did this come from?'_

She began to think. The last thing that she remembered was that she was watching a horror movie. _'I must have fallen asleep!'_ But this wasn't where they watched the movie. This was a bedroom. So how did she end up here?

Finally, the answer dawned on her. Jiren brought her here while she was asleep. But why didn't he just wake her up?

Removing the covers off of her, Cocotte moved from the bed but she found that her movement was a bit weird as she had just woken up. She made her way towards the exit door. Once she was out, she focused on locating Jiren's energy. She sensed it on the balcony.

Cocotte decided to mask her ki and give Jiren a surprise. Being as quiet as possible, she had soon reached the balcony where she saw Jiren sitting there, relaxing in peace as he was observing the sight before him.

"Hey, Jiren," Cocotte called out to him.

Jiren turned his head when he heard Cocotte call his name. "Cocotte? So you're awake already?" Getting up from his seat, he began to approach her. Out of nowhere he embraced her, allowing her head to rest on his chest.

Cocotte returned the embrace and asked, "Why didn't you wake me up?"

Jiren let her go and said with a smile, "You fell asleep towards the end of the movie. You looked so peaceful in your sleep and I didn't want to wake you up so I took you to a spare bedroom."

Cocotte recollected the events. She remembered freaking out so much by the movie that she clung onto Jiren's arm while Jiren looked annoyed by her actions. To her, he didn't seemto understand that. But he didn't question her.

She simply gave Jiren a smile. "Well, what can I say to that?"

The strongest Pride Trooper was about to respond when he remembered something. "Stay here. I have something for you."

"Okay."

Cocotte watched as Jiren disappeared from sight. A few minutes later, he reappeared. Once the female Pride Trooper caught sight of the items in Jiren's hands, she let out a gasp.

In Jiren's hand was a bouquet of flowers, a box of chocolates and several picture frames. He placed them on the nearby table with the exception of the bouquet of flowers.

Cocotte was almost speechless. "You got all this for... me?"

Jiren didn't answer. Instead, he slowly moved towards Cocotte and handed her the flowers.

"These are for you."

Cocotte took the flowers from Jiren. "Jiren... you're so sweet. Thank you."

"I also put these pictures in frames for you while you were asleep. I hope you like them. I'm giving them to you because I wanted you to remember this date... our first date."

Cocotte's eyes were brimming with unshed tears of joy. She placed them on the table Jiren left them and placed a hand on his arm.

She gave him a grateful smile. "I really am lucky to have a guy like you. Someone who cares that much about me."

Jiren smiled back at her. "And I couldn't dream about being with anybody else besides you,Cocotte."

Cocotte didn't even know what to say to that. She wrapped her arms around Jiren as she kissed him and he responded to the kiss with as much force, desire and passion.

When they broke apart, all the duo could do was look into each other's eyes.

Cocotte broke the silence by asking, "Are you done?"

"No."

That was all Jiren could say as he went back to kissing Cocotte, claiming her lips.

_**Afterwards...**_

Jiren and Cocotte were back on the living room sofa, cuddling. The smaller Pride Trooper had her head on Jiren's chest while Jiren was embracing Cocotte in a somewhat protective manner, as if he didn't want to let her go.

Cocotte looked up at Jiren. "Thanks for everything. I had a lot of fun today." She placed a kiss on his cheek.

Jiren put his free hand on Cocotte's knee while the other one was keeping the petite woman in his embrace. "Cocotte. There's nothing to thank me for."

"But still..."

Jiren kissed her on the forehead. "Don't worry about it."

He noticed Cocotte was staring at the clock on the wall. He asked her, "Do you want to go home now?"

The smaller Pride Trooper gave Jiren an incredulous look. "Are you kidding me? Let me stay a little longer."

"Whatever you say. Besides, I didn't really want you to _leave_." Jiren admitted.

And those were the last words Jiren had said as he and Cocotte cuddled, whispering sweet words to each other. Right now, the two of them were enjoying nothing but each other's presence.

Neither of them had regrets about this. About their current relationship. They had both held back their feelings about each other. They had both thought that this relationship wouldn't be possible. But that was then. And this was now. Both of them were aware that nothing could stand between their relationship. And even if that _did_ happen, they knew they would be there for each other.

They only knew that their relationship would get _stronger _and _stronger_ as the days went by. Any _doubts_ and any _regrets_ about this were gone.

Right now, there was nothing of importance. There was nothing more important than...

_This day between them. Their first date._

Chapter 7: END

**Author's Note:**** Done with yet another chapter. Let me know in the comment section if you like the progression of Jiren and Cocotte's relationship. If there was something you did or didn't like, let me know in the comment section. If you have any suggestions for upcoming chapters, let me know and I'll address you. Until the next chapter... **


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